Unity in Spira
by Jaymo
Summary: My Aurikku with a AU twist! Set in a post war Spira, Auron and Rikku are forced to get along for the sake of the people. TidusYuna also.
1. The Birthday Celebrations of Lady Yuna

A/N: Hello everyone. Here is my latest attempt at fanfiction. I don't want to give too much away right now, just give the first two chapters a read and I'll put another note at the end of the second chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or anything of the like...

**The Birthday Celebrations of Lady Yuna**

The Palace of Saint Bevelle. Auron could think of no place more majestic, more spiritual, more wonderful. He stood tall and strong staring at the massive structure. If he was a little more observant, he would have noticed that he had a audience. Several girls from the local school were passing his silent form and giggling amongst themselves.

It was no secret that Auron was the most eligible bachelor in Bevelle. Almost every female in the city lusted after the Grand Maester's only son, and with good reasoning. He was smart, strong, and absolutely gorgeous. Definitely the tall, dark, and handsome type. He was a very serious man, but that made his smile all the more desirable. He was stronger than any warrior monk, but he had a hidden soft side for those he loved and every girl dreamed to be his. And fortunately for them, he was still single. For now.

Since Grand Maester Braska announced that he was looking to marry his son off, panic spread throughout the city. Women made sure to try and find themselves in Auron's company, in an attempt to win him over before he was off the market. If Auron was aware of his admirers, he didn't let it show. The only person that knew him well enough to tell was his little sister. It was that little sister he was waiting for that day in front of the Palace of Saint Bevelle.

"Where is she?" the twenty-five year old wondered out loud. He was supposed to meet his sister and take her out for a quick birthday lunch before their parents got a hold of them.

"Auron!"

Auron smiled and turned around in time to catch his sister in mid air as she jumped up to hug him.

"Yuna!" he laughed as he spun her around. It had been almost a whole week since they had seen each other and he missed her terribly. "I was just about to leave and go to lunch myself"

"No you were not!" she cried as he set her down. After smacking him on the chest, Yuna smiled up at him. "How were you going to keep the women off of you without my help?"

"Ha ha. Very funny." he joked as they started to walk to their favorite café. Yuna smiled at all the girls eyeing her brother.

"It's true!" Yuna teased. There was nothing she loved to do more than tease her brother.

"Yuna, where were you?" Auron asked, suddenly remembering her tardiness. "We were supposed to meet at noon."

Yuna rolled her eyes and sighed a little. "I just stopped to talk to a friend I saw in a shop"

"Well, I was worried you had gotten hurt" Auron told her as they entered the café.

"You're always worried I'll get hurt" Yuna mumbled to herself. As much as she appreciated her brother's protective streak, she felt that he was worrying over nothing. Yuna learned from a young age that as the Grand Maester's daughter, she had to be a little more cautious in life than most girls her age. She followed Auron to their booth and smiled at Calli, her favorite waitress.

"Hey Yuna! Happy birthday! It's on the house today!" Calli smiled. Auron thanked the young waitress and ordered. He turned to his sister and noticed the far away look in her eyes.

"So, how does it feel to be twenty-one?"

* * *

"Move it or lose it!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"

Rikku rolled her eyes at her father's lack of patience. She and her brother were no where near done arguing.

"Aww, come on Pops!" she pleaded, hoping her father would see the sunnier side of life and help her kick her brother's butt.

Cid crossed his arms and looked sternly at his daughter. "Rikku, you two have been arguing all day ever since you two lost that blitzball game. I'm tired of hearing about it!" With that, Cid turned and left his kids to fight it out.

"Man! Is he a drama queen or what?"

Rikku turned towards Tidus and arched and eyebrow. "Well I'm glad you see where you got it from!"

"HEY! I am not a drama queen!"

"Are to!"

"Are not!"

* * *

Outside the room, Cid ran into one of his crew members and a woman he had never seen before.

Buddy was smirking at an annoyed Cid and the women looked slightly uncomfortable listening to the arguing going on in the room behind Cid.

"Cid, this is Shelinda. She's a messenger from Bevelle." Buddy stated simply. Cid nodded and turned to the woman.

"Hi there. What can I do for ya?" Cid asked.

The woman looked at the Al-Bhed leader with a mix of curiosity and fear, as did many people. Most people, especially Yevonites, expected hostility from the colorful man that was Cid.

"Hello" Shelinda smiled, deciding that she liked this man, "I came to make sure you had received your invitation to the birthday celebrations of Lady Yuna this evening. We did not receive a confirmation from you and were wondering if you were to come."

"Holy hell!" Cid barked out, causing the woman to jump slightly. "Of course! I completely forgot to send the confirmation!" Laughing a little, Cid smiled at the nervous woman.

"My apologies. We have been so busy here with the construction it must have slipped my mind. Of course we will come. It may take me a little while to get my kids to settle down though!" Cid chuckled.

Shelinda nodded in understanding. "Yes I understand completely. Just so you know, we will have plenty of activities at the celebration for kids, balloons, clowns, that sort of thing. Also, we will have a full staff of people that can watch them if they get out of hand."

Cid's eye twinkled in amusement. "Of course. Tidus! Rikku! Come out here and greet Miss Shelinda!"

Shelinda smiled and prepared to bend down to greet the kids that were to come out the door, but soon stood up in shock.

"Oh my!" she said as she covered her mouth. From the arguing she heard, she expected kids no more than ten to come out of the room, not almost full grown adults.

Cid chuckled again and put a hand on Shelinda's shoulder. "Shelinda this is my son Tidus and my daughter Rikku. They are twenty-three and nineteen, respectively."

Shelinda smiled realizing her mistake. "Nice to meet you both. I really must be going now. I look forward to seeing you tonight!"

"Us as well, Buddy please see Miss Shelinda out. Until later."

Rikku and Tidus waited until the woman was gone until asking questions. "What's tonight?"

"The birthday celebration of Lady Yuna" Cid repeated.

"Oh well, that should be a lot of fun" Rikku said knowing that there was no way to get out of this one.

"Can't wait Cid!" Tidus lied.

"Good! Be ready by seven and stop calling me Cid!"

* * *

"My lord?"

"Shelinda! How was your trip?"

"Good my lord. Cid and his family are coming." Shelinda relayed.

"Wonderful! Thank you Shelinda!" Braska smiled. Shelinda nodded and left the Grand Maester to his busy schedule.

Braska watched her leave and smiled to himself. It had been a long time since he had seen Cid. It was going to be a great party

* * *

A/N: go read chapter two! That's where it gets interesting! 


	2. None for You Cupcake

A/N: Chappie 2!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy...

**None For You, Cupcake**

Yuna had always hated the parties that her parents threw. They were always full of powerful people, creepy suitors, and more people she didn't care to talk to. Not surprisingly, those are exactly the kinds of guests she encountered.

"It's okay Yuna" Auron smiled at her discomfort. "Just smile and nod and get through it"

Yuna smiled knowing that her brother had endured more of these parties than her. Taking his advice, Yuna made her rounds around the room, trying to remember names and faces. After a while of mingling, Yuna set off to find her father and was met with an interesting sight. Her dad had a wide smile on his face as he looked at a group of people approaching him. One was a tall bald man she vaguely recognized, followed by a small blonde girl, and then...

He was taller than she was and very sunny looking. He had spikey blonde hair and golden skin that made his very blue eyes light up. He had the same smile on his face that Yuna did, so she knew he really didn't want to be here. He looked up, feeling someone's eyes on him and caught her staring at him.

Blushing furiously, Yuna turned away only to feel her father put his arm around her and move her along with him. Braska removed his arm from her shoulders and held his arms out to the group.

"Cid! Welcome! It has been too long!" Braska and the bald man embraced, sending mixed messages through the crowd. Everyone knew that the Grand Maester was all for unity, but they didn't know that he was on hugging terms with the leader of the Al-Bhed.

"Braska! You old fool! How the hell have ya been?" Cid asked, pulling back form the hug and slapping the Maester on the back.

"I've been wonderful! And yourself?"

"Couldn't be better old friend! And this little lady is Yuna?" Cid took Yuna's hand and kissed it.

"Yes this is my Yuna." Braska smiled proudly.

"Nice to meet you Yuna. My name is Cid. This is my daughter Rikku-"

"Hi!" Rikku smiled and hugged Yuna. Yuna smiled, a little taken back by the girls forwardness.

"-and my son Tidus. Kids this is, as I'm sure you know, Maester Braska and his daughter Yuna." Cid finished.

Yuna didn't hear all that Cid said. She could only concentrate on Tidus taking her hand and smiling down at her with his blue eyes.

"Please Cid, enjoy the party and then stay to catch up!" Braska offered.

"We would love too!" Cid said hugging his kids to him. Rikku and Tidus exchanged a nervous glance.

* * *

Hours later the party was still going. Rikku had retreated to a balcony she spotted earlier. It took her a little while to get there because she was stopped by so many people. She ever had so many people want to talk to her in her life! Finally reaching the balcony and the cold night air, Rikku breathed in relief. She walked to the side of the balcony and looked over at the view of the city.

"Wow!" she said softly. Bikanel looked nothing like this at night.

"Pretty isn't it?" a deep voice asked from beside her. Rikku jumped and turned to see a dark figure beside her.

"Geez! Don't sneak up on people like that!" she said a little harsher than she meant to.

The man just chuckled at her. "I have been out here for a good twenty minutes. I believe you snuck up on me"

"Fine whatever. You still shouldn't scare people like that!" she warned.

"My apologies"

"Your forgiven. So what are you doing out here? Hiding from the party too?" she questioned. She squinted in the dark trying to see the man's face better, but found it impossible.

"Something like that" he answered shortly, not wanting to go into it further.

"Me too" she answered simply. They stood in silence for a moment longer.

"So what's you name?" Rikku asked.

"Seymour. What's yours?"

* * *

Hours later, the party was finally over and Braska invited Cid for a drink.

"So it's been a long time Cid. What have you been up to?" Braska asked.

"Overseeing the construction of Bikanel mostly. The war left a lot of work to be done."

"Yes, I'm so sorry I was not able to send help."

"Don't worry about it. You had a much larger area of devastation to recover. If anything, it should be the other way around" Cid reasoned.

"Yes, well, times have changed." Braska added.

"Yes they have. So where was your son Braska?"

Braska laughed. "Probably hiding somewhere! I assume he's made an appearance by now."

"You ready to talk to the kids?

"Not yet"

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuna found herself in the company of Cid's children, feeling pretty nervous. It wasn't so much Rikku making her nervous as it was the girl's incredibly hot brother.

"So twenty-one huh?" Rikku said, attempting to get the older girl to talk. To her disappointment, Yuna just nodded quickly.

Tidus was watching his sister's failed attempts at conversation and sat up to stretch. "Come on Cid! I know they have a lot of catching up to do but I'm tired!"

"How do our father's know each other?" Yuna asked. She immediately blushed when both blondes looked at her like she was stupid.

"Your kidding right?" Tidus asked, making Yuna turn a fierce shade of red.

"I just- well, it's just that-" she stuttered.

"Oh shut up Tidus!" Rikku said sharply. She turned to Yuna. "It's just that our dad has told us this story thousands of times. Your dad never told you?"

"No. My dad likes to keep me protected." Yuna admitted. Rikku reached over and took her hand. Yuna looked at the younger girl and smiled.

"It's okay Yunie! Can I call you that?" Rikku asked. When Yuna nodded, she continued. "I'll fill you in."

Rikku put on her best Cid face. "Ahem...come 'ere kids! Let me tell you about how I met our Grand Maester and tell you about all the ass we kicked together!"

Tidus laughed at his sister's impression and smiled when he saw Yuna laughing too, glad that she lost some of her discomfort.

"That's out dad alright! So Yuna, you know about the war right?" Tidus asked.

"Um...I don't know much, just that it was with the Guado." she admitted.

"That's right" Rikku nodded. "We'll get back to that later. Do you know what your father did before the war?"

Yuna shook her head no.

"Before the war, our dad's went to the same school together in Luca. Have you heard of The Academy at St. Luca?" Tidus asked.

Yuna nodded his time. "Yeah I read about it with my history tutor before. It was one of the first schools to accept all races in Spira right?"

"Kinda" Rikku nodded again. She gathered that Yuna had been home schooled, which meant she might have to start at the beginning. There was no telling what her father left out.

"Technically all schools in Spira accepted any race." Rikku explained. "It was just that the different races preferred to stick together."

"Why?" Yuna asked, never hearing this before.

"Racial pride, I guess." Tidus added. "The Ronso only wanted their kids to learn with other Ronso. The Guado with Guado. The Yevonites with other Yevonites. Al-Bhed with other Al-Bhed."

"Oh" Yuna said.

"So a few leaders at the time realized that this was a really stupid idea and opened a school where it was accepted to learn with other students. Our dad's were two of the first students." Rikku said.

"Yeah, they both believed very strongly in uniting the races of Spira." Tidus added.

"Yeah and soon they became best friends!" Rikku added.

"Oh. So then what!" Yuna asked, eager to hear more from her new friends.

"Well, they trained under the legendary Sir Jecht and became fierce warriors. They toured Spira, an Al-Bhed and a Yevonite preaching about unity. When they left school the Guado war started and you pretty much know the rest." Tidus said.

"I know that Tromell Guado killed the Grand Maester at the time and my dad was elected as a replacement."

"Right again Yunie! The idiot leaders realized what our dads were saying all along was right. Your dad was elected to Maester and our dad was elected leader of the Al-Bhed. After that, they had a lot of clean up to handle."

"I can imagine! I don't understand why my dad never told me any of this." Yuna wondered.

"I'm sure that-" Rikku began.

"-that he had his reason's and it is none of your damn business!" A gruff voice interrupted.

Rikku turned her head in the direction of her interruption and almost fell off of her chair. She was staring at the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her entire life. He strode forcefully over to Yuna and stood in between the girls. Yuna lowered her eyes, knowing her brother was about to loose his temper and she felt sorry for Rikku.

"I would appreciate it if you keep your nose out of our business!" Auron said coldly.

"I would appreciate it if you backed the hell up out of my face!" Rikku yelled right back. Auron and Yuna both felt their eye's widen. No one ever yelled at Auron. Ever.

"Who in the hell do you think you are!" he bellowed.

"Hey!" Tidus yelled jumping in between the strong man and his little sister. "Don't yell at my sister!"

Yuna felt her heart drop at the thought of her brother and her new friends fighting. "Please don't fight!" she tried.

"Ah, I see you two have met my son Auron!"

They turned to see Braska and Cid entering the room smiling at their children. Everyone dropped his or her defensive stance and looked guilty.

"Why don't you kids come into my chamber and have a drink with us." Braska offered.

Everyone nodded and sat with Braska and Cid in the small lounge area as Cid passed out the wine.

"None for you cupcake, your only nineteen!" Cid told Rikku, only to have his daughter stick her tongue out at him.

"So it has been an interesting night so far" Braska commented.

"Cut the small talk and get to what you want to say" Rikku said, immediately picking up that Braska was hiding something. Cid and Tidus rolled their eyes and Yuna felt her jaw drop. Auron had murder in his eyes.

Braska just laughed. "She's quite the spitfire Cid. I like her!"

Rikku smiled and shot an innocent glance in Auron's direction.

"So I think with the exception of Yuna, you kids know that Cid and I have known each other for a long time-"

"Actually, she asked us and we kind of filled her in" Tidus admitted.

Braska smiled. "All the better. Yuna I am sorry you didn't hear the story from me but we can discuss that later."

"Now, we have actually been planning this meeting for quite some time now" Cid explained. "You all our the sons and daughters of the leaders of two major powers in Spira and we felt we needed your help in this matter."

Braska nodded and looked to the confused faces that sat before him. "We have tried to keep it under wraps but we feel you must know."

"What is going on?" Auron asked.

"Well, we have a lot of reason to believe that another Guado war is close on the horizon." Cid said. The Al-Bhed leader watched the shock settle in on the faces of his children.

"How? Why?" Tidus asked.

"That would take a really long time to tell right now." Braska answered.

"We wanted to prep you all for what we are going to ask next first." Cid explained.

"You want to know if we will help" Rikku and Auron said at the same time. They looked at each other in distaste and then turned back to their fathers.

"Yes" Braska answered. "We do not want you to get hurt, trust us."

"But at the same time, you all are adults and more than capable to help. We think you would be great assets in the war. But it is completely up to you. We know you might try and fight anyway, so we wanted to pretend like we had a say in it." Cid joked.

"I'm in" Rikku and Auron answered again.

"Me too!" Tidus and Yuna agreed.

"You all are sure? It is not going to be easy. There is going to be training, missions, covert operations, and a whole bunch of other terms I can't think of right now!" Cid said.

"Pops, this isn't just your fight anymore. Everyone has grown since the last war. Everyone knows the importance of stinking together. How would it look if your own kids didn't want to fight with you?" Rikku asked.

"I'm glad you see it that way. We old men are going to need some new ideas!" Braska smiled.

"Yes, there will be a lot to do." Cid added.

"What about the people?" Yuna asked.

"What do you mean sweetie?" Braska asked.

"Well, from what Tidus and Rikku told me, at the time of the last war, the people weren't exactly united yet."

"She's right" Tidus agreed, making Yuna blush again. "How are we going to make sure the Al-Bhed and the Yevonites and the Ronso are in this together?"

"Well since the appointment of Maester Kimahri Ronso, we haven't had much trouble on the Ronso front." Braska said.

"And we have a couple of ideas to get our people to fight side by side." Cid added.

"Like what?" Auron asked.

"Well" Braska paused. "We thought that a recruitment campaign wouldn't hurt."

"And a reminder to the people about what happened last time by sending ambassadors out." Cid added.

"And lots of speeches of encouragement from Cid and myself" Braska said.

"And...a well publicized...union...of some important leader's children." Cid finished.

"What do you mean...union?" Tidus asked.

Braska and Cid looked at each other. "Well, by union, we mean marriage." Cid admitted.

"A marriage between two leader's children?" Auron asked.

"Yeah" Braska said.

"Between your children?" Rikku said, eyes wide.

"Now hold on one second. Hear us out!" Cid said. "It would look great if there was a marriage between out people. It doesn't even have to be a real marriage. We just have to make sure everyone is together when the time comes for war!"

"As crazy as it sounds, it makes sense" Auron admitted. "A fake marriage to keep the unity so we all don't start fighting each other when the war starts."

Rikku did not like where this was going. Auron did not seem like the type to let his sister marry some stranger so that meant-

"I will do it. For the people" Auron agreed.

Braska and Cid turned to Rikku. "That means that it is up to you cupcake" Cid told her.

Rikku wanted throw up right then and there. She looked up at the hopeful faces of her father and Braska and knew what she had to do.

* * *

A/N: Check it out. Two chapters in and I already got Auron and Rikku getting hitched!

So as you can tell, it is very AU. Obviously. I think you get the general idea though. I am going to be adding lots more characters in roles you wouldn't expect them including Yunalesca and even Sin. hee hee this is good times. hey next, we have Rikku's answer, and the training starts. Lots of shirtless hotties, sweating all over the place.

So what do you think?


	3. Training

A/N: Hello again So there are a lot of questions asked by you guys that I want to address, so see the shout outs!

RikkuLovesAuron: Hey thanks! No Auron and Rikku are not related because Rikku and Yuna are not cousins in this story. And Auron has both eyes. For now. Dun dun dun...

Goddess-lil-Angel: Thanks! I thought an AU story would be a change for me to write. Glad you like it so far!

Telcontarian: I'm glad you said that about Braska being Auron's dad. To tell you the truth, I really didn't like it too much at first. I knew I wanted Yuna and Auron to be the kids of the Grand Maester and Rikku and Tidus the kids of the Al-Bhed leader. Obviously, Cid for the Al-Bhed leader, but I had a really hard time imagining Braska as Auron's dad. But he was the only character that I wanted to fit in as Cid's old friend. Plus, you got to remember that Braska would be older in the story, and Auron is younger, and not the wise one we all know so well. I hope that helps you imagine it better. It helped me.

Sparzelli: Hey1 Thanks! Keep reading!

UltimateAurikkuFan: Lol, no don't worry "Because of You" will not be forgotten. I'm taking my time with that story because of the content of the next couple of chapter..cough(lemon)cough. Yes it is Tidus/Yuna and yes I suppose they would be related by marriage. However, the marriage between Rikku and Auron might be staged, might not last, or might not even happen. Regardless, Tidus and Yuna get their shot too. Yes, I imagine that Cid would have been blonde before he went bald. Or maybe he just shaves his head. I could let it grow out and give him a big blonde afro...

sockpudding: thanks! hope you like it!

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or the characters.

**Training**

"Are you kidding me?" Rikku asked the two men that were awaiting her answer.

"I thought you might say that" Cid sighed, setting back in his chair.

"Gee, really?" Rikku asked in mock surprise.

"Just think about it Rikku," Braska asked, "you know what it would mean to us."

Rikku nodded feeling a little uncomfortable. She looked at her brother only to see him shrug his shoulders. Yuna was looking at her with eyes full of concern and Auron was staring at the wall.

"I'll think about it" Rikku agreed.

"Good" Cid said, moving and placing a kiss on his daughters head. "Now you kids go rest. Tomorrow we start your training."

Braska watched as the kids left the room and then looked over at Cid.

"Do you think this is going to work?"

"Rikku will come around. She know how important this is, she just doesn't want to lose face."

"Hmm, she sounds like her father" Braska commented, earning a punch on the arm from Cid.

* * *

Early the next morning, Tidus, Rikku, Yuna and Auron were ready for training. They were scattered around in of the gyms of the huge palace that doubled as the home of Yuna and Auron. 

"Do they really think we never learned how to fight?" Tidus asked Auron. Despite his superior attitude and the fact that he might marry his little sister, Tidus couldn't help but like the older man. Tidus felt that Auron was a good person deep, deep, deep down. Plus, he seemed to love his sister very much and Tidus could relate.

"I think they just want to make sure were are ready" Auron answered. As much as he didn't like the sudden situation, he found himself liking the Al-Bhed siblings very much. Tidus reminded him of himself when he was younger. And by younger, Auron meant about twelve. It had been a long time since he had been that carefree.

"Um, I've never fought" Yuna admitted. Rikku, who had been stretching on the floor, put an arm around the older girl.

"I'm sure that dad never meant for you to fight Yuna" Auron said simply.

"Well that kind of puts me at a little disadvantage now, doesn't it" Yuna snapped. She was so tired of being babied by her father and brother.

Auron was surprised at his sister's tone, but simply raised an eyebrow. "I think Rikku is rubbing off on you"

"What is that supposed to mean!" Rikku yelled. She soon shifted her glare from Auron to Tidus, who was laughing.

"That was a good one Auron. You think she's bad here, you should hear her at home!" Tidus laughed.

"Shut up Tidus! And you stop being mean to me!" Rikku said, putting her hand on Auron's chest and pushing.

"Are you challenging me?" Auron asked, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Think you can take me?" Rikku challenged.

"You're on!" Auron nodded and stepped back. He smirked at Rikku and removed the red pull over he was wearing, leaving him in a black tank top and black pants. He took a roll of tape from the shelf and wrapped his hands up, preparing to spar with the little Al-Bhed.

Rikku was temporarily distracted by the sight of Auron. He was smirking at her in an annoyingly superior fashion. His overly developed chest and arm muscles weren't helping very much. Rikku couldn't help but admire the was his dark hair and clothes contrasted with his tanned skin. Auron watched her roll her eyes at him and take off her own pull over. She was left in a tight lavender tank top and low slung jogging pants. She glared at him and pulled her ponytail higher and snatched the tape from his hands. Wrapping the material around her own hands she threw the tape aside and moved to the middle of the mat.

"Let's go!"

"With pleasure!"

"This can't end well" Yuna said, making Tidus laugh. She looked over at him to see him sitting close beside her. Before she could get nervous she heard a loud battle cry from across the room. Tidus and Yuna looked up in time to see Auron and Rikku running full speed at each other. They met each other half-way and started to throw punches and kicks.

Tidus felt his jaw drop as Auron blocked Rikku's attacks and quickly recovered with his own well placed hits. Not too many people could keep up with Rikku's speed and he was suddenly worried for his sister's safety. Auron was a lot bigger than her and if she got hit, it could hurt a lot.

Yuna smiled as she saw Rikku block and dodge Auron's attacks. Not too many people could get out of his way very fast and she knew that Auron must be annoyed. Rikku even got a few of her own hits in, which rarely happened. Auron was the best fighter in Bevelle.

Rikku had just vaulted off of Auron's back and landed a few feet away. They both stopped and regarded each other with curiosity. Auron ran his hand across his forehead and looked at the small woman panting in front of him.

"Not bad annoying one" Auron said.

"Not too bad yourself ass" Rikku retorted.

Instead of commenting, Auron laughed. "It has been a long time since someone could keep up with me"

"Same here actually" Rikku admitted. Yuna and Tidus sighed, thinking the fighting was over.

"Want to use weapons?" Auron asked.

"Absolutely" Rikku agreed.

"You guys are going to kill each other!" Tidus protested as Auron picked up the biggest sword he had ever seen in his life.

"Don't do this!" Yuna pleaded as Rikku strapped on a pair of claws.

"And GO!" Rikku yelled. Again, the two launched at each other and attacked. Yuna screamed and hid her eyes in Tidus' chest. Realizing what she did, she moved quicky only to have Tidus put an arm around her.

"It's okay Yuna. I don't think they would actually hurt each other" Tidus told her softly.

Yuna looked up and saw that Tidus was right. Auron never actually hit Rikku with the sword and she never touched his flesh with her claws. After a minute or two Rikku tossed her claws aside and picked up a lighter sword and ran at Auron.

Tidus watched in awe as his little sister held her own against this giant sized swordsman. Auron and Rikku seemed to be able to anticipate the other's move before it was made. The result was the two engaging in a battle dance of some kind. After a minute more Auron used his strength to knock the sword out of Rikku's hand. Auron dropped his own sword and the two stared at each other, breathing heavy.

"Very good. Well done!"

The pair turned their heads to see a trio of people clapping for them. Rikku and Auron moved back over to Tidus and Rikku as the trio joined them.

"Not bad little miss. It has been a long time since Auron had a opponent that could keep up with him!" An older man smiled. He looked at the group staring at him, and decided to introduce himself.

"Hello there, you two must be Cid's kids" he looked at Tidus and Rikku, who nodded in response.

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Barthello and I am going to be one of your trainers." the man smiled down at the pair. Rikku looked up at the rather large man and eyed him carefully. She was always wary about meeting people in Bevelle for fear that they would be Al-Bhed haters.

"These are your other two trainers, Issaru and Lulu" Barthello said, pointing to the man and woman behind him.

"Summoner Issaru?" Yuna asked, her interest peaked.

"That's me" Issaru smiled down at her. "I was asked to train with you Yuna. I hope you don't mind."

Yuna squealed and shook her head. She learned all about aeons from her history tutor and would love to be able to train with a summoner. Auron smiled at his sister's excitement, but couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Why would Yuna need to summon? Was she supposed to fight?

Rikku was happy that Yuna didn't feel left out anymore. She looked over at her brother and saw a curious expression on his face. Rikku followed his gaze to see Issaru kissing Yuna's hand. She looked back to Tidus and couldn't read his expression.

"Yeah yeah," Tidus almost snapped, "So what do you do Lulu?"

The woman looked over to Tidus and smiled slightly. "I am to train you and Rikku in the art of black magic. I have taught Yuna quite a bit of white magic over the past two years, and your father felt it might be beneficial for you to know a little magic yourselves."

"I know some magic, but it mostly defensive." Tidus told the mage.

"That is good Tidus" Barthello cut in, "along with that, I will help you and Auron, maybe little Rikku here as well, with your weapon training."

Before Rikku could voice her displeasure, Barthello continued. "Okay, let's get started!"

* * *

Almost fourteen hours later, four very tired people were making their way to bed. 

"Ow, Yunie, I can't feel my legs!" Rikku said as she climbed a very large staircase to her room.

"I know, I can barely see straight, my head hurts so much!" Yuna agreed. She looked over and giggled at Tidus, who was practically sleeping already. She reached over and touched his arm and he jumped.

"What? Huh? Oh, Yuna! Don't do that!" Tidus said as he clutched his chest, only to make Yuna giggled again.

"Sorry, I was worried you were going to fall down the stairs!" She smiled. Tidus looked over his shoulder to see Auron directly behind him, only a few steps down.

"I think your brother would have saved me" Tidus winked to Yuna.

"Don't count on it" Auron and Rikku said at the same time. Auron looked up at the blonde girl and saw her shooting him a look.

"What?" he asked forcefully.

"Nothing" she said sharply.

Tidus and Yuna shared a look and rolled their eyes. It was going to be a long couple of days.

* * *

The next day, Rikku was stretching her legs on the floor when Yuna plopped down next to her. 

"Hey Yunie! How's it going?" she asked, grabbing the shoe on her foot and pulling her body toward it.

"Great! Apparently, all the magic I learned over the last couple of years is really helping out with learning to summon. I already know so much, even though I didn't know that I knew it. Does that make sense?" Yuna rushed.

Rikku laughed. "You're starting to sound like me!"

Yuna laughed and looked over to where Tidus and Auron were sword fighting. Both men were shirtless and very involved in the competition. She felt her eyes roam over Tidus' toned body and sighed.

"Was your brother always that hot?" she said without thinking. Rikku almost spit out the water she had taken a break for, and looked at Yuna. Yuna realized what she had just said and cover her mouth with her hand.

"I KNEW IT!" Rikku yelled as Yuna launched herself on the younger girl. Rikku was giggling and tried to yell and Yuna was trying to put her hands over Rikku's loud mouth.

"Hey! You two okay over there?" Tidus yelled. The two men stopped their swordplay at the sound of Rikku yelling.

"We're fine!" Yuna yelled back. Rikku stopped laughing and sat up to wave.

"Yup! All good over here! Hey Auron! What's that over there?" Rikku pointed. Auron turned to see what she was referring to when Tidus took advantage of his turned back and knocked Auron to the ground.

"Ha! Thanks Rikku!" Tidus yelled.

Rikku nodded and looked over at Yuna. "You like him!" she said quietly.

Yuna blushed furiously and looked down at her hands.

"Its okay Yuna, I won't say anything. And no he wasn't always that hot. To me at least. Blitzball keeps him in shape I guess." Rikku told her.

Yuna looked a little sheepish. "I didn't mean to say it like that Rikku. I've just never seen anyone as cute as him."

Rikku just laughed. "It's okay Yuna! Really. Hey! Maybe you and Tidus could get hitched instead of me and your brother?"

"Auron's not that bad Rikku. You just have to give him a chance that's all!" Yuna told her.

Rikku looked up at Auron and shrugged her shoulders. She was not about to admit that she had been staring at his naked torso for the last thirty minutes...

* * *

One week later everyone had made great progress. So much so that Barthello gave them the day off. Yuna decided that she wanted to show Rikku and Tidus around Bevelle. They agreed and Auron decided to come along in case there was any trouble. They only had one stop to make in the weapons shop, but then they were free to roam around. 

"Auron, why don't you take Tidus and go to the weapons shop. I want to take Rikku to the clothing store. We can meet by the fountain in an hour." Yuna suggested. Her brother nodded and motioned for Tidus to follow him.

"Be careful" Auron warned before he left.

Yuna nodded and took Rikku by the hand, leading her across the plaza. Forty-five minutes later, the two came out of the store with a few shopping bags. They were discussing their purchases as they walked through a deserted ally way and to the meeting place. Rikku was listening to Yuna talk when she heard a noise that got her attention.

"Yuna, hush" Rikku said as she listened harder. Yuna obeyed instantly and listened along with Rikku. Before they could figure out what the sound was, a large Guado man stepped out in front of them.

"Ah, Rikku! What a surprise!" The man said.

"Do I know you?" Rikku asked, stepping slightly in front of Yuna.

"We met at Lady Yuna's party. Do you not remember?"

Rikku felt her eyes widen. This was the man she was talking to on the balcony. The man whose face she never saw because it was too dark.

"Seymour?" She asked.

"That's me! I am very fortunate today. Here I am wondering how I ever would get into the palace to get a hold of the children of our dear leaders. But look! You just wonder right out and into my hands! What are the odds?"

Yuna felt a deep sense of dread as the man spoke. She was very nervous for herself and Rikku. There was no telling what this man could do.

"Well, as much as I love this, I can't carry both of you, so-" Seymour raised a hand and brought it down in Yuna's direction. Yuna suddenly couldn't move and could only watch the scene in fear.

"What did you do!" Rikku yelled, furiously.

"Relax darling," Seymour smiled, "I only paralyzed her. I will have to hid her somewhere while I take you and come back for her." He raised his arm again, this time at Rikku.

Rikku dodged Seymour's spell. She rolled across the ground and sprang back up before he could recover. She pulled her claw on and stood in front of Yuna.

"Ah, a feisty one! Maybe I have a job for you in my mansion. Or more specifically, in my bedroom."

Rikku turned up her nose at Seymour, running at him with her claw outstretched. Again, Seymour did not see her in time and she managed to get a few good hits in. She landed a good distance away from Yuna this time fearing that Seymour would send a magic attack and hit Yuna instead of her.

"Are you going to leave us alone now?" Rikku asked. She looked over at Yuna's scared face and became angrier.

"Hardly" Seymour laughed. He sent a spell Rikku's way hitting her hard. She shook the fire spell off and took another swipe at the Guado. This time, Seymour caught her arm with his claw-like hands and pushed her to the ground.

"Think your fast? Let's see how fast you are after this!" Seymour said menacingly as he gathered a lightening spell in his hand and shot it down at Rikku's ankle. Rikku screamed at the force that effectively snapped her ankle. She looked up to see a look a sick pleasure in Seymour's face. Suddenly the Guado looked up and backed away from Rikku quickly. She saw him laugh and disappear into thin air. Then she saw her brother in her line of vision.

"Rikku! Are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you?" he yelled. Rikku sat up and saw Auron looking Yuna over. She stood up on one leg and Tidus immediately picked her up.

"She's fine Auron" Rikku said. "She's just paralyzed. And probably a little scared."

Auron looked up at Rikku and nodded. "Do you have anything to heal her?"

Tidus nodded. "I do! Here take this!" Auron held out his hand, expecting a little potion, but instead was handed Rikku. He recovered quickly and brought out both arms to take her. He held her awkwardly as Tidus applied the Al-Bhed potion to Yuna. Yuna started shaking and Tidus caught her in his arms as she started to fall forward.

"Shh, Yuna you're okay. It's alright." he comforted as he held her against him. Auron couldn't help by raise his eyebrow at the way Tidus was holding his sister.

"This is all my fault! We never should have separated! I couldn't even help Rikku!" Yuna cried into Tidus' shoulder.

"Yuna don't say that!" Rikku said firmly. "There was nothing you could do and this is not your fault. Got it?"

Yuna nodded weakly. "I'm sorry Rikku," she said, her voice starting to become stronger, "I'm just so tired of being useless!"

"Your not useless Yuna" Auron tried.

"Yes I am! I don't know enough yet!" Yuna argued.

"Yuna, you have to learn more just like we do" Tidus said. "You're not useless"

"You're right Tidus" she said, sighing. Tidus smiled and lifted her into his arms, carrying her back toward the castle.

"Good! Come on, let's get you back home"

Auron watched the exchange and scoffed. "I just told her that! Why does she listen to Tidus and not me?" he said to himself.

"I guess your not cute enough"

Auron jumped at Rikku's voice. He almost forgot he was holding her. He looked down at her bruised face and arms and followed her body down. He saw he puffy ankle and blue singed skin and became angry.

"Who the hell was that guy!" he asked angrily as he started to follow Tidus. Rikku winced at the brisk pace Auron set and he slowed a little.

"Sorry, I just want to get you back so you can get healed. I can't believe this shit. It's broad daylight!" he growled.

Rikku shook her head in disbelief. "He was at Yuna's party."

"What? Where?"

"He was on the balcony in the dark"

"And you told no one of this because...?"

"Auron, there were hundreds of people there! How was I supposed to know that the guy outside was a psycho?" she snapped.

"Your right. I apologize. And thank you for making sure Yuna didn't get hurt. She looks up to you. Even though your smaller and younger." Auron said.

"Your welcome"

* * *

"We are going to track this guy down!" 

"He has to be involved closely with our enemies if he's looking for a hostage!"

Auron, Yuna, Rikku, and Tidus were watching their fathers pace for the last ten minutes. Rikku and Yuna were healed fully and were waiting for their fathers to quit worrying.

"Just unbelievable." Braska said to himself. He turned to Yuna and Rikku and pointed a finger at them. "You two are not to go out by yourselves anymore."

"And you two" Cid joined in, pointing at Auron and Tidus, "are not to leave them by themselves anymore."

The group nodded and waited for Braska to continue.

"Well, we will take this day by day. Barthello tells me you all are progressing very well. Keep up the good work kids. It's very important that you all keep focused. If today has taught you anything, it should be that you need to be more prepared."

"Yes, we will continue to unite our people will you are training. We have already spoke in Besaid and Luca this week Next week, we are going to Kilika and Bikanel." Cid added. "We really need everyone together when the Guado attack. I really wish we could find their headquarters."

Rikku looked at her father and Braska and saw the tired looks of determination on their faces. They had been fighting for so long to protect their people. She knew then what her answer was to be.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, cupcake?" Cid and Braska looked over at Rikku, who had been quiet.

"I'll do it"

"Do what?" Braska asked.

"I'll marry Auron"

* * *

A/N: whoooo...he heee. Next chapter Auron's reaction to marrying Rikku. Tidus and Yuna get some alone time. 

I will have the next chapter of "Because of You" up hopefully no later than Monday.


	4. Starting a Friendship

A/N: Hello, just wanted to put up a small chapter to advance this story. I'm sorry to say "Because of You" will be ending soon and this story will be my main focus. The final chapters should be up by the end of the weekend.

Disclaimer: I don't own FF or the characters.

**Starting a Friendship**

****

The whole of Spira was shocked to hear about the marriage of Auron and Rikku. Al-Bhed and Yevonites alike were in a state of disbelief. Especially females in Bevelle between the ages of twelve and fifty. Braska and Cid let information leak about the impending nuptials, but decided to make the official announcement that weekend at the Blitzball Cup Tournament in Luca. Regardless of an offical announcement, the town was talking.

Rikku and Yuna found out first hand what the town thought when they went shopping the day before the game. They were in Bevelle with four guards and two warrior monks at their sides. Everywhere Rikku walked, she felt eyes on her. Women looked her up and down and whispered to the people closest to them. Rikku could not believe Auron had this many fans. Well, yes she could. Most of these women never actually talked to Auron so they probably assumed he was a nice guy.

"Your brother is not worth all this" Rikku commented to Yuna.

Yuna offered a smile in sympathy. Walking next to Rikku, she could hear the comments directed at her new friend and none of them were very nice. On the way back to the palace, they passed on group of very bitter women.

"I don't believe the rumors. Auron would never ask for that trash's hand!" one said.

"I don't know Vi, Auron is a man with needs and you know what they say about Al-Bhed women!" her friend said.

"Yeah, but you would think he would have chosen a prettier one!"

Yuna grabbed Rikku by the arm and led her inside the doors. Once inside, the guards left them alone and went about their duties. Yuna took Rikku all the way to the training room before she spoke.

"Rikku, you know they were just jealous and stupid! Don't let them get to you!" Yuna stood in front of Rikku and was surprised to see tears in the younger girls eyes. The whole time she had known Rikku, Yuna felt like she was the younger one in the pair. Rikku always seemed so collected and mush wiser than her years. Enough so to make Yuna feel inadequate. Suddenly, Yuna felt like she had stepped into the opposite role.

"Rikku, don't cry" Yuna said softly, putting her arm around the Al-Bhed's shoulder.

"I'm okay" Rikku sniffed. "It's just, this is going to be hard."

Yuna nodded. "I'll be there to help. Tidus and Auron too. Now come on, put on a happy face so we can get back to training. They'll be wondering where we are."

Yuna and Rikku had decided to go shopping on their break while the boys were doing who knows what, but they were supposed to be back at one-thirty. Rikku took a deep breath and tried to shake off her hurt.

* * *

Auron lifted his head when he heard the door open. He let out a breath of air when he saw Rikku and Yuna enter. They were a little late and he couldn't help but start to worry. Before he could get too relaxed he noticed two things that didn't set well with him.

The first was that Yuna's face lit up when she saw Tidus. She greeted him and he smiled back at her with a dreamy expression. It's not that he didn't like Tidus, but this was his sister. His baby sister was checking this guy out. And Tidus wasn't keeping his gaze on Yuna's face. He was going to have to do something about this...

The second, and more troubling thing, was Rikku. As much as he tried to ignore the ball of energy that was Rikku, he couldn't help but like her. He knew immediately that something was amiss with the girl. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes and her walk seemed to be heavier. Auron took advantage of his sister's inattention to him and anything else besides Tidus to pull Rikku aside. As luck would have it, Tidus was equally occupied. Yes, Auron was definitely going to have to do something about this later...

"Rikku, is everything alright?" he asked.

She looked up at him surprised. "Yes. Why would you think something is wrong?" she asked putting on her best pretend happy face.

"Rikku," he warned, "I know that something is wrong. Try not to waste my time and just tell me now." As harsh as his words sounded, his tone was anything but. Rikku was more that surprised to hear the worry and concern in his voice and she appreciated it.

"Did something happen in the town?" he asked, knowing that was probably right. She had not been upset when she left.

Sure enough, Rikku avoided his gaze. She shifted her feet and nodded slightly.

"Care to tell me what happened?" he tried. Not surprisingly, she shook her head no. Auron sighed and pulled her by the arm to the hallway.

"We'll be right back you two!" Auron called to his sister and Tidus. They briefly nodded to him before resuming their conversation. Auron rolled his eyes and led Rikku into the hall.

"Rikuu, please tell me" he asked, leaning back against the wall. He was scared that this had something to do with Seymour.

"Don't worry Auron, this has nothing to do with Seymour" Rikku said.

Auron blinked in shock. "How did you know-"

"I could read it on your face" Rikku shrugged, leaning on the wall next to him. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like she wanted to talk to him.

"It wasn't that serious, just some people were saying some mean things. I guess we have a lot of work ahead of us." she admitted.

"Mean things about you?" Auron asked, feeling a little angry. Rikku may be annoying, but she didn't deserve that.

Rikku caught his angry tone and smirked. "Hey, you've said some pretty mean stuff to me too!"

Auron lowered his gaze. She was right. He said a lot of mean things to her when they first met.

"...you big meanie" Rikku said as an afterthought.

Auron smiled slightly. "I apologize Rikku. I was mean to you and I'm sorry. That is in the past now, so let's just focus on how we are going to show a united front. Our dads are counting on us."

Rikku nodded. The two moved back into the training room to find their siblings in the same place. Auron walked over to interrupt, but was held back by Rikku. He looked down at her small form.

"Thanks Auron" she said. Then she walked ahead to join Tidus and Yuna.

Auron watched her walk away. "You're welcome"

* * *

A/N: See a small chappie! And awww, does Auorn like Rikku? Maybe a little. Well I won't be updating this story until the other is finished, so stay tuned! 


	5. The Announcement

Disclaimer: I don't own FF or the characters

* * *

**The Announcement**

It was a beautiful day in Luca. The sun was shining brightly down onto Spira from its place in the clear blue heavens. The air was electric with excitement from the crowd at the stadium. The Blitzball Cup Tournament had finally started. The two competing teams were the Besaid Aurochs and the Luca Goers. The rivalry in the stands was thick, but not as thick as it was in the Grand Maester's box.

"The Goers are going to kick ass!" Barthello shouted. Braska and Cid looked at the large man in annoyance. Barthello said that phrase every ten minutes.

"We'll see!" Lulu replied happily, "I hear the Aurochs are doing very well this year!"

Yuna leaned over to Rikku and whispered in her ear, "Lulu has a big crush on the captain"

Rikku giggled and watched Barthello and Lulu argue back and forth. Braska had invited everyone to come watch the game in the box seats he reserved. Barthello and Lulu jumped at the chance, while Issaru was a little more laid back about the situation. Rikku noticed that he spent most of his time keeping his eyes on Yuna. She looked to the back of the box where Tidus and Auron were talking, but she couldn't make put what they were saying...

"I don't like him" Tidus grumbled, feeling a little jealously in his stomach.

"Tell me about it," Auron agreed, "He tries anything with my sister, I'll break his penis off and shove it down his throat."

Tidus jumped back form Auron with a mix of horror an awe. He couldn't believe Auron just said that. The look on the older man's face told Tidus that he was dead serious. Tidus wondered what would happen if Auron knew about his feelings for Yuna.

"Ahem...well, um...how 'bout those Goers?" Tidus said, a little higher pitched than he would have liked.

Auron smirked slightly. He knew Tidus had a thing for his little sister and was amused by it. Tidus was a nice guy and he seemed to really like Yuna. Plus, it would be really easy to threaten the young Al-Bhed. If Auron didn't like what was going on, he could have Tidus running for Home. The thought of Tidus running scared across the desert made him chuckle.

"Hey! What are you laughing at? Your dad's about to announce your engagement to MY sister!" Tidus said.

Auron stopping laughing. He suddenly was aware of his nerves. How was he going to pretend to be in love with someone for an indefinite period of time. He was sure that he and Rikku would have to visit places around Spira. Could he really pull this off. Auron glanced over to Rikku and saw her chatting animatedly with Yuna. His sister was laughing at whatever the young girl was saying and that made him smile. Ever since Tidus and Rikku entered their lives, Yuna seemed much happier. He took a minute to watch Rikku.

Whatever she was telling Yuna, Rikku seemed to be really excited by it. Her face and eyes were bright and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Her tiny hands were making gestures as she spoke and she was soon laughing alone with Yuna. Auron thought about how young she was and she was going to be his wife. She was only nineteen. It was only six years difference, but Auron felt old.

Suddenly, Rikku looked up and caught Auron staring at her. She held his intense gaze for a second and then gave him a small smile before returning to her conversation. Auron sighed and turned to Tidus.

"Maybe it should be you and my sister in this position" he said, half serious. He knew there was no way Yuna was marrying anybody soon.

"Nah. It makes more sense for you and Rikku to do it." Tidus said, turning his attention to the game.

Auron knew Tidus was right. The people of Bevelle would frown on Yuna marrying Tidus. Yuna was young and impressionable. It would be easy to turn the marriage into a joke or a publicity stunt. Auron marrying Rikku portrayed the opposite because everyone knew that Auron couldn't be pushed into anything. He felt a movement by his side and looked up to see Rikku sitting down next to him.

"Hey, are you ready?" she asked, her green eyes looking into his.

"Yes" he answered simply. She smiled and held out her hand for him to take. He took it and followed her.

* * *

"People of Spira! It makes me so happy to see everyone gathered here in celebration of the annual Blitzball Cup Tournament!" Braska yelled into the microphone. He looked around at the cheering crowd and smiled.

"I'd like to take this time to thank my dear friend and his children for joining me here today. Cid, leader of the Al-Bhed, and his lovely children Tidus and Rikku." Braska paused again for a little less enthusiastic round of cheering. Not disheartened, Braska continued.

"It always amazes me to look out into the crowd and see Spira come together for the love of the game. I only hope that we can come together in the future when we need to. Especially in times as uncertain as these with a possible threat from former enemies."

"With that in mind, Cid and I have an announcement to make." Braska could sense the crowd really listening to him now. "We are proud to announce the engagement of our children!"

Cid, Auron and Rikku stepped to the front of the podium with Braska. Auron took Rikku's hand and smiled down at her. Rikku felt her breath catch at his smile. She was rarely on the receiving end of the rare occurrence. He had a amazing smile that changed his whole face and Rikku couldn't help smiling back.

"Auron has asked for my daughter's hand in marriage and she accepted!" Cid announced. Auron leaned down and gave Rikku a small kiss on the cheek sending the crowd cheering.

* * *

"So Shelinda, what's the verdict?" Braska asked. He was sitting in the meeting room with Cid, Tidus, Rikku, Auron, and Yuna, waiting to hear how the announcement was taken.

"Well, actually, according to my data Bevelle seems pretty pleased with the whole situation" Shelinda said. Along with working for Braska, she was a news anchor for Bevelle. The station had been flooded with response from the tournament and it was her duty to report back to Braska.

"I would say that about fifty-five percent of the responses we got were positive. Some were impartial, and some were, well, kind of mean"

"Were those from jilted ladies?" Tidus laughed. Auron glared at him and Tidus laughed harder.

"Well, fifty-five percent is better than we expected" Braska said.

"Right, things will change after Rikku and Auron start touring. I think Home is the next place to go." Cid said. "You kids can go, we'll have dinner later." The four nodded and left the room.

* * *

Tidus immediately pulled Yuna to the side.

"Come on Yuna! Let's go to the kitchen! I can't wait until later to eat!" Yuna giggled as Tidus pulled her off, waving to Rikku and Auron.

After they were out of sight, Auron turned to look at Rikku. She had a serious look on her face. She was chewing on her bottom lip and staring at the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Rikku jumped a little at the sound of his voice and looked up. "I guess" she answered slowly.

"But?" he encouraged.

"You don't feel strange?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Auron sighed. "I feel really weird actually."

Rikku just nodded. "I feel like this isn't real, you know? I barely know you and we are going to get married. We're going to have to tour Spira like a side-show attraction and try to convince people to get along in case the Guado attack. How are we going to do this?" She looked up at him to see the confusion in his eyes.

"I'm not really sure. We just have to for our dads, for Spira."

"I know. It just seems like it's not going to help very much." Rikku shrugged.

"Every little bit helps Rikku." He told her.

"I guess. So what do we do now?" she asked.

"Let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat and we'll figure out what to do okay?" he offered. She thought it over for a minute and nodded. Auron smiled at her again and held out his hand. Rikku looked at the large, strong hand extended toward her and then up to the extremely handsome man it was attached to. She smiled and took his hand, holding it all the way to the kitchen.

* * *

A/N: sorry another short chapter. Next chapter will pick up the fluff! Auron started to figure out it might not be so bad to pretend Rikku is his fiancé. Heheehehehehehehe

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews for "because of you" I think wrote everyone back. The sequel is in the works!


	6. Competition

A/N: I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone who likes this story so far! I hope you like this chapter because it's starting to pick up!

Disclaimer: I don't own FF or the characters

* * *

**Competition**

"I can't wait to visit Home! I'll introduce you to all my friends Yuna" Tidus smiled.

Yuna looked up from her pasta and smiled. She got a feeling of excitement in her tummy knowing that Tidus wanted her to meet all his friends. She couldn't believe how much her life has changed in a few days. Tidus and Rikku had made a big impression on her. And thanks to Issaru, she was becoming comfortable with her summoning skills and finally felt like she wasn't useless.

"That's sounds great Tidus!" she smiled. "I wonder if we should train tonight. I haven't worked with Issaru in a while" she added as an afterthought.

Tidus sneered into his soup and mumbled something Yuna couldn't hear. The blonde then threw a dirty look at Auron, who was laughing into his sandwich.

"Not funny" Tidus said shortly, causing Auron to chuckle harder.

Yuna felt like she had missed something. She looked over to Rikku to see if she knew what was going on. The young blonde didn't seem very interested in the conversation. Unlike everyone else, Rikku had skipped dinner and moved on to dessert. She sat behind a very large brownie sundae, slowly spooning chocolate syrup covered bites into her mouth.

"Rikku, are you going to finish all that?" Tidus asked, bored with his soup.

"Huh?" she asked, not really listening, "oh yeah, sure Tidus." She pushed the large bowl in front of her brother and crossed her arms in front of her on the table. Tidus picked up a spoon and looked at the sweet food hungrily before Auron smacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey!" Tidus yelled.

"Give the girl back her dessert" Auron said, pushing the bowl back in front of Rikku and handing her his unused spoon. She looked at him intently for a moment making him a little uncomfortable.

"It's okay. I was finished. Really" she explained. Auron nodded and brought the bowl in front of him, taking a large spoonful to eat.

"HEY!" Tidus yelled, scandalized.

"I'm sorry," Auron said with his mouthful, making sure bits of brownie fell out of his mouth and into the bowl, "did you want some?"

"Bleh! No!" Tidus said angrily. Today was not his day. First thoughts of Yuna and Issaru plagued him and now Auron was messing with him. And now Rikku and Yuna were laughing at him.

"Aw, poor Tidus" Yuna smiled, kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"I haven't laughed like that all day!" Rikku announced, smiling at Auron.

Tidus looked at the older man and saw him wink. Maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all.

* * *

Tidus had spoken too soon. Shortly after eating, they were ambushed by the trainers. Barthello wanted to take Auron and Tidus out into Macalania woods for some real monster training. Lulu was going to work with Rikku and Issaru was going to train with Yuna.

Needless to say, it was a bad day for the monsters of Macalania. Tidus fought with the concentrated fury of a dozen warriors. Barthello was amazed by the quick warriors skill and even Auron was impressed.

"Not to bad Tidus. Now try to not think of my sister's trainer this time" Auron said loudly enough for Tidus to hear. At that moment, a very large, very angry looking fiend approached.

"On second thought," Auron raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't be surprised if Issaru had his tongue down her throat right now."

Tidus snapped like a rubber band under pressure and launched himself at the fiend.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rikku and Yuna were finished working with their trainers and went looking for Braska. Cid had left for Home earlier that day preparing for Rikku and Auron's visit. They found Braska in the main entrance with a very scantily clad woman.

"Ah Yuna, Rikku, I was just about to call for you. This is the High Summoner of Zanarkand, Lady Yunalesca." Braska announced.

They stood in front a very tall, very beautiful woman that would make a pageant queen feel ugly. Yuna could feel the power radiating off of this woman and knew her summoning abilities must be off the charts. She immediately felt like she didn't deserve to be in the same league as Lady Yunalesca.

Rikku, on the other hand, was embarrassed. She thought she wore revealing clothes! Yunalesca was dressed in a barely there bikini with a few bells and whistles. Her body was unblemished and toned. Rikku felt like she was an ugly duckling pretending to be pretty. She moved a little closer to Yuna and realized that Yuna was moving closer to her as well.

"Yuna," Yunalesca said in a dreamy tone that fitted her perfectly, "I am very sorry my husband and I missed your party. We were away on business sadly. I heard it was a lovely event."

Yuna just nodded her thanks.

"Ah and this is Rikku" Yunalesca turned to look at the young Al-Bhed, "I have heard much about you."

"Yes," Braska cut in, "she is Cid's daughter and Auron's fiancé."

"Yes I heard that rumor. So it is true then?" she asked Rikku. Rikku got the distinct impression that Yunalesca wasn't going to believe a word she said.

"Yes?" she answered a little unsurely. She caught Braska's eye and could read his expression clearly. Yunalesca was someone that should believe in the union and Rikku was missing her chance.

"Yes" she said a little more forcefully," sorry Lady. You have just caught us after training and we are a little drained." Rikku smiled at the woman.

"Ah," Yunalesca smiled, "I remember when I was younger and just started learning magic. It was all I could do to get out of bed the next day."

Before anyone could think of anything else to say, three very dirty men walked in the door. Four heads turned to see Auron, Tidus, and Barthello enter, fresh from their fight with a nasty fiend. Rikku looked at Auron and her brother and felt the concern rise in her. She looked at Braska and Yunalesca and knew what she should do.

"Auron!" She yelled as she ran to the large man. He looked at her confused for a minute and then caught her as she threw her arms around him.

"Play along" she whispered in his ear.

Rikku pulled back and looked him over for wounds. "What happened? Are you okay?" she asked, her voice scared.

"He's fine! We just got into a fight a minute ago and it has started to rain, hence all the mud." Barthello explained, looking guilty for dripping mud all over Braska's floors.

Rikku sighed in relief. "I thought you were hurt!". She wrapped her arms around Auron in a tight hug and stood up on her toes to kiss him. Auron tried to act like kissing her was an everyday thing, but was finding it difficult. Her body was warm against his freezing one and her lips were sending a shockwaves down his spine he wasn't prepared for.

He kissed her back firmly and straightened his back, holding on to Rikku and lifting her off the ground. He spun them slightly so Yunalesca could see their profiles. He put her down and broke the kiss, running his thumb over her cheek. "I'm fine sweetheart. Sorry for worrying you."

Yunalesca watched the two with interest. They seemed real enough, but she was only aware of one thing: the warm rush of desire that flooded her when she laid her eyes on the Grand Maester's son.

"Well, I am glad everyone is okay" she said politely, trying to get the object of her desire's attention.

Auron and Tidus looked at the woman fully for the first time. Tidus was shocked at seeing a ninety percent naked woman standing in front of him. He admired her body as any man would, but felt a distinct foreboding aura around her. He wasn't sure he liked her at all.

Auron was still holding onto Rikku and felt her stiffen at the woman's voice. He looked Yunalesca in the eye and saw the blatant lust behind the surface. She licked her lips and looked Auron's body up and down, ignoring the girl in his arms. Rikku shifted again and Auron dropped his lips to her forehead and rubbed the small of her back to calm her. He looked back to Yunalesca. "Thank you for your concern" he said in a very polite voice.

"Boys, this is the High Summoner of Zanarkand, Lady Yunalesca." Braska introduced. "This is my son Auron and Cid's son Tidus. Lady I hope you will join us for dinner."

"I am honored Lord Braska, but I really must be getting back to Zanarkand. I just stopped in on my way home to ask about the nuptials. Congratulations both of you." she said. Auron and Rikku smiled and thanked her.

"Well in that case I'll show you out." Braska said.

"Thank you. I hope you all will visit Zanarkand soon." she smiled and looked at Auron. "I would love to show you my hospitality."

Auron didn't miss her innuendo and nodded politely. The room sighed in relief when the door was shut behind her.

* * *

A moment later, Braska returned with a big smile on his face. "Brilliant! You two were brilliant! She completely bought it! Hell, I bought it! You two are going to pull this off beautifully!" he planted a kiss on his son's head and then Rikku's cheek.

"All you kids go have some fun or something! I'm going to get in touch with Cid!" Braska said and left them in the room.

Rikku blinked a few times and suddenly was very aware that she was still in Auron's arms. She pushed against his chest and backed out of his embrace quickly. She had not missed the heavy desire that Yunalesca directed at Auron. Being a close bystander, it even made Rikku feel a little dirty.

"I'm going to go shower" she said softly.

"Me too" Auron and Tidus said at the same time.

Yuna felt the tension in the room and felt a little panic. She didn't want her friends to start acting weird around each other. "Why don't we shower and meet on the terrace to talk?"

Everyone nodded and went off to his or her room.

* * *

Yuna and Rikku were the first two on the terrace. Yuna giggled. "It's not often they take longer in the shower than us."

"Well, they were a whole lot filthier than us." Rikku pointed out. "I only got dirty because I hugged Auron."

Yuna smiled at her new friend. "You mean you only got dirty because you made out with Auron."

Rikku groaned and put her hand to her temple. "This is going to get so weird"

"No, you both knew what you were getting yourselves into. You guys did great. Completely convinced Lady Yunalesca." At the mention of her name, both girls fell silent.

"I didn't like her at all" Yuna said.

"I didn't either. Did you see the way she was sexually harassing Auron with her eyes?" Rikku said.

"How could anyone have missed it? She said she was married right?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. I was right there next to him, but she didn't seem to care." Rikku spat.

"Rikku? Are you jealous?" Yuna asked, surprised.

Rikku looked up at Yuna and sighed. "No, not jealous. I just feel a little guilty."

"Why?" Yuna asked.

Rikku looked down again. "I just feel in the way. Auron had this beautiful, powerful woman all over him and he can't do a thing about it because he's supposed to be with me. He has to settle with me until we can do something about this war. I'm afraid he'll end up resenting me and we just started to be friends."

"Oh Rikku, don't think like that. Auron would never go after a woman like that. Plus I know he doesn't resent you. Come here." Yuna reached over and pulled the smaller girl in to hug.

Auron and Tidus walked onto the terrace at this point and saw their sister's embracing. They noticed the sad looks on the girl's faces and shared a look of concern.

"Hey wait for me!" Tidus said as he wrapped his arms around the hugging girls, glad to hear their giggles. "Come on big guy! Get in here!" he said to Auron.

Auron rolled his eyes and sat across from the group. "Tidus, stop trying to feel up my sister."

Tidus blushed and pulled back while the girls giggled more. "Like you got room to talk. You had your tongue in my sister's mouth just a few minutes ago!"

"Hey! There was no tongue on my part. Now Rikku on the other hand..." Auron trailed off.

Tidus looked at his sister with murder in his eyes while Yuna laughed. Rikku smiled but felt a flutter in her stomach at Auron's false but suggestive words.

"So my dad was right you guys, we should have some fun!" Yuna smiled. "What should we do?"

"How about we go to Luca and play some blitzball now that the season's over? We could invite the Auroch's coach so Lulu will get out of out hair" Tidus suggested.

"That's actually not a bad idea" Rikku admitted remembering her long training session with the mage earlier that day.

"I'll write him a sphere-gram and ask" Tidus said picking up a pencil from the table.

"Ask him if we can do it tomorrow afternoon," Yuna said, "I have an early morning session with Issaru."

Auron laughed when the pencil in Tidus' hand snapped in half.

* * *

Rikku sat on the terrace alone later that night. The other's had gone to bed long ago and she was trying to clear her head. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed lately. Here she was, almost married and in the middle of a divided country. Then there was the threat of the Guado. They had seen Braska a few hours ago and learned that Cid would be in Bevelle in the morning to discuss a new development, so that was weighing on her mind heavily.

"Hey" a deep voice said from behind her.

"Hey Auron" she answered without turning around. She felt him sit on the edge of the bench not very far from her.

"It's pretty here" she said softly. Auron turned to see that she was looking out over the terrace at the nighttime skyline of Bevelle. There were lots of lights on in the city that mirrored the twinkling stars overhead.

"Yeah, I guess so. I don't really notice anymore." he answered.

"When I look out of Home in the day, all I see is sand. At night, all I see is dark sand. I can't even see the stars because of the dust clouds."

"That's a shame" Auron answered.

"I tried to convince my dad to start rebuilding Home somewhere like the Moonflow, or the Calm Lands, but he said it was safest on Bikanel." she said.

"I'm sorry Rikku. I know how you feel" he answered.

"How do you know how I feel?" she asked, turning her full attention towards him. "You've lived in this comfortable palace all your life. You live in the freedom of wherever you go, people won't look at you like your dirty and tainted. People aren't scared to live next door to you Auron."

"Rikku," he said a little firmly, "you know all that is not my fault. It's been like that for years and you and I are supposed to help change that. I don't look at you that way. Neither does Yuna. Don't treat us like the enemy Rikku."

Rikku felt the tears start to fall down her face and she felt really guilty. "I'm sorry Auron. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Shhhh" he whispered, pulling her into his arms. "It's okay Rikku. You have to be strong for your people okay? I'll be right here to help you."

"Thanks Auron" she smiled, pulling back and wiping her eyes. "I needed to hear that"

He bent his head slightly and smiled. He started to shift slightly like he just remembered that he forgot something.

"Listen Rikku, I wanted you to have this" he said, pulling a small object out of his pocket. Rikku looked down to see a petite ring with an embarrassingly large diamond in the center. She was speechless as Auron picked up her hand and slipped the ring on her finger.

"I realized that I must look like a horrible fiancé, not even getting you a ring or anything." he said.

"Auron! You didn't have to!" she said almost afraid of the object on her hand.

He took her hand in his and smiled. "I wanted to. It was the least I could do, since I'm keeping you away form all those good looking men that were staring at you all day."

"You're not keeping me from anybody Auron" she smiled. "If anything, I'm sorry I am in your way."

Auron knew she was talking about Yunalesca even without her saying it. "You are never in my way Rikku. Especially when it comes to Yunalesca."

Rikku smiled and nodded. Then she blushed a little when he kissed her hand.

* * *

Hours later, Auron was woken from his sleep by Tidus banging on his door.

"Wake up Auron!"

Auron threw the door open to see a very scared looking Tidus. "What happened!"

"It's Yuna" Tidus said, almost in tears. "She's missing"

* * *

Yuna woke up feeling very sluggish and had a massive headache. She looked around and it didn't take her long to figure out she was on the Thunder Plains. Why on earth was she on the Thunder Plains? Where was everyone?

She sat up on the ground to see a dark figure ahead of her tending to a fire. The figure turned to her and smiled.

"Ah you're awake!" he said pleasantly.

Yuna felt her blood run cold as fear took over her body. "Seymour?"

The man stepped into the light and looked at Yuna. He looked like Seymour, but his hair was less violent and more green.

"Sorry Yuna. That's my twin brother you're asking for. My name is Sinclair. You can call me Sin for short." he grinned menicingly at her shaking form.

* * *

A/N: oh snap! That's right, Jaymo made Sin Seymour's twin brother. I even amaze myself sometimes. Lol...Sinclair...lol...but I'm missing the point...he's got Yuna! What will Tidus and Auron do? And what's up with that skanky Yunalesca? Hmm...I'll update soon! 


	7. Yuna's Strength

A/N: hey, sorry for taking a while. Enjoy! Will get back to my shout outs next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews! By the way, i just wanted to clear something up that seems to be an issue lately...I am a girl. I've been asked that question a few times in the past few days on this site, so just to let you know!

Disclaimer: I don't own ff or the characters

* * *

**Yuna's Strength **

"What the hell happened!?" Auron asked after following Tidus to the meeting room. He saw his father and Cid talking and looking grim. Rikku was off to the side yelling in Al-Bhed at a guard.

"Yuna disappeared about an hour ago. That was the last time she was seen when she left the kitchens and according to Biggs, she never came back to her room" Braska answered. Auron assumed that Biggs was the guard Rikku was yelling at.

"Rikku that's enough!" Cid shouted at his daughter. Rikku crossed her arms and scowled as Biggs scurried out of the room.

"So what do we do now?" Tidus asked.

"We search" Braska said.

"But where do we start? We don't know for sure who took her or where she could possibly be", Cid pointed out. He had only arrived in the city half an hour ago to find his friend panicked over his daughter's disappearance.

"I bet she's so scared!" Rikku whimpered and hugged her arms tighter around herself.

* * *

A good distance away from Bevelle, Yuna stood in the Thunder Plains, breathing in and out very deeply. She was scared out of her mind and trying to calm herself. Sin Guado was a few feet away from her, taking inventory of his supplies.

Yuna looked at the tall Guado in disgust. He looked so much like Seymour but a little crazier if that was possible.

_Ok Yuna_, she thought to herself, _you can do this. You can take care of yourself. Issaru trained you, your much stronger now than when you ran in Seymour. _

Her breath caught in her throat, showing the slightest sign of panic. _Think! What would Rikku, Auron and Tidus do? They're so strong. Just breath...think...breath..._

Yuna looked over at Sin again and noticed how little he was paying her attention. He seemed to be fully focused on his supplies. Yuna noticed that for a hostage, she wasn't being watched to hard. Hell, she wasn't even tied up.

Realization hit Yuna hard. Sin Guado thought this was going to be easy. He could just scare Yuna into following him and she would follow. He didn't even bother to tie her up. Yuna breathed in and out a few more times as she formed a plan in her head.

* * *

"It's pitch black outside Braska! How in the hell are chocobo's supposed to help?!" Cid asked.

"We'll it's a better idea than waiting for airships to arrive by morning! Yuna could be dead by then!" Braska countered.

Auron felt useless watching Braska and Cid fight. He wanted his sister back safe and they had no idea where she was. Frustration built in him until he was ready to punch the two leaders out. Before he could voice any anger, he felt a small hand on his arm. Auron looked down into Rikku's teary green eyes and felt his anger shift to concern.

"She's going to be okay Auron" Rikku said firmly. "She's stronger than you think. I know she'll be okay."

"Yeah, but we need to do something" Tidus piped up, stepping next to his sister.

"So what do we do?" Auron called over the raised voices of Cid and Braska.

* * *

"I really don't like lightening. Are we staying here long?" Yuna asked in a scared voice.

Sin smirked and loaded up his bag, throwing it on his shoulder. "Patience Yuna. We're leaving soon."

"But, are we walking over the plains!" she asked again in a bit of a panic.

"There is transportation waiting for us in Guadosalam. Let's go." He sneered, leading the way. Yuna hesitated a little and he turned to face her.

"Don't make me hurt you" he warned. Yuna whimpered and followed behind him.

"My dad is going to find me!" she said.

Sin scoffed. "Highly doubtful. Not many Yevonites travel as far south as we're going."

Yuna stopped in her tracks. "We're not going to the Southern Ocean are we?" she asked fearfully.

"I will never understand Yevon's fear of those waters," Sin smiled. "But don't worry Seymour will be there to keep you warm in the waters."

They walked along a little farther, Yuna shivering and Sin smirking. "So did Seymour send you to get me? You do his errands?" she asked.

Sin spun around and glared at Yuna. "I do not do his errands!" he barked.

"I'm sorry" Yuna said, "I just thought that he was in charge-"

"You know nothing. I am the brains, Seymour is just more known. You think that idiot would have found out about Omega on his own? I don't think so. I taught Seymour all he knows. That idiot brother of mine is going to be the one to make a mistake, not me."

Sin continued to rant on. "I'm the one that hid supplies in Guadosalam for emergencies. I'm the one that is negotiating with the Cactuars. And what does he say is my reward? He says I get to pick a playmate from our captives! He already made it clear that he wanted that you, so I get the dirty little Al-Bhed. But do I get to capture her first? Noooooo. What Seymour wants, Seymour-what the?"

Before Sin could continue, he felt a rush a wind and a loud thud behind him. Spinning around, he faced an angry looking Yuna sitting on the back of a large winged creature. Sin felt his stomach drop.

"You know, you're really bitter and inattentive for someone who is supposed to be capturing me." she smiled. Her favorite aeon, Valefor, lifted his wings and took flight. "I'm only warning you once. Stay away from my family and my friends."

Sin watched as the giant creature jetted off with his captive, and all he could see was his brother's furious face in his mind.

* * *

Back in Bevelle, one group was about to be left leaderless as Cid and Braska's fight escalated.

Rikku, Auron, and Tidus turned their attention to the feuding adults, preparing to break up a fistfight.

"You know damn well if it was Rikku out there, you would be acting differently!"

"Well Rikku wasn't dumb enough to get kidnaped, now was she?

The sound of the doors opening stopped the shouting and Biggs ran into the room. "Sirs! Yuna has been spotted! She's on the roof!"

* * *

Yuna smiled as Valefor landed softly on the roof of the palace and her friends and family ran towards her. She slid off the aeon and patted his head. Valefor bowed his head slightly and took off into the heavens. She turned around and was crushed into a hug by a group of people.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Yuna sat in the meeting room with her father, her brother, Cid, Rikku, Tidus and the trainers. She took a deep breath and began her story.

"He didn't even tie you up?" Barthello said. "What a dumb kidnapper! Uh...that's great for you though!" he added after receiving a look from Braska.

"Amazing Yuna. You've gotten us so much information." Braska said.

"But you could have been seriously hurt!" Cid added. Braska raised an eyebrow at him.

"So now your concerned?" he asked sarcastically.

"You know I was worried Braska. We're just idiots when it concerns out kids." Cid smiled.

"I suppose you're right" Braska smiled back.

At seeing Yuna's confused look, Rikku leaned over. "I'll tell you later."

Braska and Cid left the room to talk about the leads Yuna brought back and the trainers were saying goodnight.

"Issaru, thank you so much! I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't believed in me!" Yuna smiled as she hugged the summoner. Over his shoulder, Yuna saw Tidus flush and he left the room quickly.

The trainers left and Yuna turned to her brother and Rikku. Auron hugged her for the nineteenth time and kissed her forehead.

"We got you a new guard. Hopefully, this one isn't an idiot." he smiled. Yuna hugged Rikku.

"Did you want me to stay with you for a while?" Rikku asked.

"No I just want to sleep. Thanks though. I'll talk to you tomorrow." she smiled, leaving for her room.

Rikku watched her go and then felt two strong hands grab her shoulders. "I don't like this Sin thinking that he has claimed you." Auron said in a low voice.

Rikku felt a shudder travel her spine and she couldn't figure out if it was because of the thought of Sin Guado, or Auron's mouth by her neck.

"I think security is going to be stepped up quite a bit. Plus my dad is making me get a bodyguard. Some guy named Gippal." she said.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your room" Auron offered.

* * *

Auron woke up from a deep sleep when he felt movement on his bed. He opened his eyes and could make out Rikku's small form crawling up the bed. She settled against his side and snuggled her face into his neck.

"Rikku? What are you doing here?" he asked sleepily, wrapping his arms and his blankets around her, not really caring what her answer was.

"Sleeping" she answered, molding herself to his body. Feeling like he wasn't touching her enough, Auron rolled over onto her and rested his head on her collar bone. Rikku brought her hands up to run through his hair and he felt chills run down his back. He shifted slightly and stopped when his stirs we causing Rikku to moan lightly. He lifted his head to look at her but was surprised by her soft lips pressing onto his. Auron kissed her back until she felt dizzy, even though she was lying still. She arched her body up to his to make sure she wasn't floating away only to have him press hard against her, slamming her back to the bed. Instinctively, her legs wrapped around his waist and his hand traveled up her top...

Auron woke up and blinked a few times. Siting up, he felt his response to his dream straining against his boxers. He exhaled and ran a hand through his hair.

"_What was THAT about_!" was the thought that ran through his mind

* * *

A/N: hey...bad auron...hehe. So next chapter Yuna finds out what crawled up Tidus' butt and died. Auron starts looking at Rikku in a new light...ahem. Plus Gippal is introduced. He is going to be a minor, minor, minor character, but it will be interesting to see a little bit of jealously from Auron won't it? He might just have to prove to Gippal that Rikku is really his fiancé. See you soon! 


	8. Jealous Comparisions

A/N: Grr...I've been trying to upload this chapter for three days now. Me and this website are about to have words...

Well, I have to warn you all, this chapter is short and a little boring. Sorry, it's bound to happen once in a while. But, next chapter will make it up to you. Thanks to everyone that is reading! I've been trying to get out review replies, but we all know how that's been going lately...

Disclaimer: i don't own FF or the characters...do something

* * *

**Jealous Comparisions**

Lulu walked purposefully to the training room the next morning. Everyone she passed noticed the extra bounce in the mage's step and one soul was brave enough to ask her about it.

"Hey Lulu! Why so happy today?" Barthello asked.

"Didn't cha hear?" Issaru asked, "The Besaid Auroch's coach is dropping by today"

"Whooooooohoooooo!" Barthello teased.

Lulu scowled and lifted her moogle doll higher up on her hip. She let her cool gaze travel over her friends and watched them begin to regret teasing her.

"For your information," she said harshly, "I'm just relieved that Yuna is okay."

"Oh, sorry Lulu" Issaru apologized and Barthello nodded along.

Lulu nodded her acceptance and turned, making sure the men didn't see the guilty smile on her face.

* * *

"I don't like him" Auron announced.

"Yeah well, I still don't like _him_" Tidus agreed scathingly.

The two men were on one side of the training room standing side by side with identical expressions of hatred. Across the room Rikku was talking with her new bodyguard Gippal and Yuna and Issaru were right next to them engaged in their own conversation.

"What is he? Sixteen?" Auron asked, eyeing Gippal's less than impressive physique.

"Probably. Look at that goofy look on that idiot's stupid face" Tidus said lamely, watching the handsome summoner smiling at Yuna.

"I know. Come on, who's hair is that impossibly bright and spikey?" Auron spat. He quickly looked over to Tidus, who was trying to look up at his own hair.

"Um, yours is much nicer" Auron quickly amended. Tidus seemed appeased and Auron was saved by the sound of Rikku and Yuna laughing. He looked up into Rikku's happy face and scowled. Tidus rolled his eyes.

"I can't take this anymore. That man gets on my nerves. Rikku needs a qualified guard, not an adolescent punk trying to feel her up." Auron said angrily, turning his back to the scene that was bothering him so much.

"I don't know what your complaining about," Tidus spat as he leaned against the wall behind him. "Rikku is your fiancé, remember? All you have to do is go over there and show Gippal who's boss. How am I supposed to keep Yuna away from her trainer? Auron? Are you listening to me?" He waved his hand in front of the look of realization displayed across his friend's face.

"Tidus! You're a genius. Why didn't I think of that." Auron smiled and walked toward the group.

Tidus smiled and caught up with him. "This ought to be good!"

* * *

"I've never seen an aeon before" Gippal admitted.

"Well, I am going to work with Yuna in a few minutes to summon on of my favorites. She'll get it in no time." Issaru smiled, making Yuna blush. "You should come see it"

"That would be fun" Gippal said, "Will you come with me Rikku? It can be like our first date!" Rikku smiled and opened her mouth to speak but a very deep voice was heard instead.

"Actually, that's my fiancé your asking out there" Auron said as he stepped up next to Gippal, shadowing the young man's body. Gippal visibly puffed out his chest and Auron smirked at the pathetic attempt of intimidation.

Rikku looked back and forth at the silent exchange between the two men. She looked at Gippal and in her opinion, Gippal was an attractive man. He was good looking, had golden skin and soft blonde hair. His chest muscles were moderately defined and the rest of him was slim. He had nice lips and eyes and she could read every emotion on his face. She didn't like the look of jealously and competitiveness on his face. Most of all, she didn't like the look of satisfaction on his face, like he already won.

Rikku's eyes moved over to Auron. Gippal might be man pretty, but Auron was sexy as hell. His face was somewhere between handsome and beautiful, a delicate mix Rikku couldn't define. His chest, neck, arms, legs, butt, his...everywhere was in amazing shape from his training as a swordsman. He could break Rikku in half and not break a sweat. He had eyes that made Rikku blush when he looked at her intensely and kissable lips. Rikku admired the look of collectiveness on his face. Not many people could pull emotion form Auron and Gippal was not one of them. _Whoa, since when was I this attracted to him?_

"You're one lucky guy" Gippal said to Auron, still eying Rikku the whole time. Truthfully, Rikku liked that she had two guys fighting over her.

Auron just chuckled. "Watch yourself there boy" he said low enough for Gippal to hear him. Auron stepped next to Rikku and looked down at her. She looked up at him with wide, curious, and amused eyes.

"Hey" she said softly, wondering what had gotten into him.

"Hey" he smiled. Auron gently raised Rikku's face by lifting her chin up with his hands. He briefly touched the tip of his nose to hers before kissing her deeply. Rikku responded enthusiastically, still worked up over checking him out a few seconds ago. Whatever power Auron held over her, Rikku decided that it must be chemistry. Her body naturally reacted to his and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. His scent, his touch, just him, let her know that she was his and she was doomed from the start.

Auron was really glad she wasn't yelling at him. It was completely obvious what he was trying to accomplish, and he was certain Rikku would not go for it. But as soon as his lips connected with hers, he felt her willingness. She opened up to him and trusted him to do what he had to do and that made Auron's task that much easier. His possessiveness was quickly forgotten and all he could focus on was Rikku and her lips.

Tidus and Yuna smiled at the look of jealousy on Gippal's face. Tidus decided to follow Auron's lead and draped his arm over Yuna's shoulder. He pulled her to his side and felt her look up at him. Yuna was surprised but she quickly made herself comfortable. She glanced over at her trainer. _Wow. Issaru has the same look on his face that Gippal does. I wonder if he likes Rikku too...wait...he's looking at me! Issaru is jealous of Tidus? _

Yuna looked up at Tidus and saw a hint of a smug smile on his face. Assuming he was looking at Auron and Rikku, Yuna followed his gaze and was surprised to focus on Issaru. _Wait, why would Tidus want to make Issaru jealous? It's not like Tidus likes..._ The thought hit Yuna like a ton of bricks. _Tidus likes me! Is it possible?_

Yuna thought back on her interactions with the young Al-Bhed and things were starting to make sense. She understood why Tidus was so cold to Issaru now. He felt threatened by him. Yuna sighed, suddenly very confused. She now had two men vying for her attention and she wasn't sure who to give it to. Yuna looked up and giggled. It looked like her new friend didn't have that problem. Auron was certainly getting more attention than Gippal from Rikku.

Gippal was now staring at anything that wasn't Rikku and tried to start a conversation with Tidus. He was obviously uncomfortable by the kissing pair and Tidus didn't do much to help matters.

"I don't know why Cid hired you to guard my sister" Tidus said casually. "Her body gets plenty of guarding from Auron. I mean, they're rarely apart, so you'll be kinda guarding them both."

Gippal curled his lip slightly and tossed a cold glance at the swordsman. He was just in time to see Rikku give Auron a healthy squeeze on the butt. Gippal scoffed and mumbled something and quickly left the room. Tidus smirked as Issaru went to lecture Gippal and tightened his arm around Yuna.

"Hey you guys want to cool it now? Guys? GUYS!" Tidus said.

Auron pulled his lips back and tried very hard to look like he wasn't panting. His broad chest moved up and down as he watched Rikku open her eyes. Her lips very, very swollen and she had a hazy expression in her green eyes. Rikku saw Auron staring at her very intensely and she shuddered slightly. Auron felt it and put his hands on her shoulders to make sure she was okay.

"Damn! You two are hopeless!" Tidus shook his head.

"I think they're cute!" Yuna giggled.

Auron turned his head to his sister and scowled. "I am not cute"

"You're cute Auron" Rikku confirmed. _And hot, and sexy, and yummy!_

Auron was a little offended by Rikku calling him cute, until she mumbled something under her breath that only he caught. He smiled and lowered his head to her ear so the other two wouldn't hear.

"You think I'm yummy?" he asked lowly.

Rikku squealed and turned a dark shade of red. _I said that out loud?!_ She stepped away from him and saw the amusement on his face.

"Uh, I think Lulu is calling me!" she announced and quickly walked over to the mage. Yuna shook herself free from Tidus and took off after Rikku.

* * *

From her position across the room, Lulu had seen the whole thing and was laughing lightly to herself when Rikku and Yuna came over to her.

"What's so funny Lulu?" Yuna asked.

"Your boyfriends" she smiled.

"You mean our brothers?" Rikku asked.

"Well, that too, but I meant your boyfriends" Lulu clarified.

"But they're not our boyfriends" Yuna said confused.

"Well, not yet" Lulu smiled. Yuna and Rikku looked at each other confused than at the mage accusingly.

"What do you know?" Rikku asked.

Lulu laughed again. "Only what I saw. While you two were talking to Issaru and Gippal, those two were practically turning green from envy. When they walked over to you girls it was obvious that they were trying to make Gippal and Issaru jealous. And look at them now"

Yuna and Rikku turned to see their brothers chatting and looking very proud of themselves. Rikku looked at Lulu and frowned. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or flattered" she said.

Lulu smiled. "I suppose that you should be neither at this point. They would be stupid not to like you girls, but it is possible they're just trying to show off."

"What do we do Lulu?" Yuna asked.

"I suppose you should actually find out if they like you or not" Lulu shrugged.

"Whoa! Auron does not like me. He's just showing Gippal that he's my fiancé like he's supposed to." Rikku said.

Yuna scoffed. "Rikku, I've seen Auron in school plays. Trust me when I say he's not _that_ good of an actor."

Rikku blushed a little. Did Auron really like her or was it all an act? She had no idea. Rikku wasn't even sure how she felt about the older man. Sure he was beyond hot, but they weren't the best of friends or anything. She looked down at the large diamond ring on her hand and sighed.

"I don't know you guys" she said.

"Well, we'll discuss it later, okay?" Lulu assured, "Let's get back to training. I have a feeling your father's are going to send you guys out soon."

"Good idea Lulu. Hey when is the blitzball captain getting here?" Yuna asked. Lulu shrugged, trying to appear uninterested but apparently failed.

"Whoooooooo!" Rikku yelled.

"Can it" Lulu warned causing Yuna to giggle.

* * *

A/N: See, I told you, short and boring...zzzzzz

Anyway...finally our buddy Wakka makes an appearance next chapter and he doesn't come alone...Auron and Rikku end up having to share a bed...Yuna is trying to decide if she likes Tidus or Issaru...Cid, well it's Cid, so make up something ridiculous and you'll probably be right...Braska proposes a way to speed up the engagement of his son...

So see you soon!


	9. Sleep

A/N: New chappie! There is major, major fluffyness at the end of this chapter and it is **borderline lemon. You have been warned.**

Disclaimer: I don't own FF or the characters, but I really want to switch places with Rikku in this chapter...sigh.

**Sleep!**

Rikku yawned and climbed the stairs slowly. She was exhausted from the training, her mind was tired from trying to figure Auron out, and her voice hurt from yelling at Lulu. The mage was quite irritable after she found out the blitzball coach wasn't coming until the morning and took her aggression out on her students. Rikku snapped after a while and she and Lulu got into a little argument. Barthello finally decided to call it a night and everyone went to bed. _Almost there..._

"Rikku!" a bossy voice called out.

Rikku groaned at her father and tried to ignore him, walking quicker to her bed.

"Don't ignore me young lady! Get over here!" She turned her head to see Cid and Braska standing with an equally annoyed Auron.

"We need you two to do us a favor" Braska smiled.

"Does it involve sleep?" she asked hopefully.

"What kind of favor is sleeping?" Cid asked actually expecting an answer.

"What is it?" Auron asked. Rikku figured he just woke up by the sleepy look in his eyes and his unbrushed hair. She quickly looked away not wanting to be caught staring too long.

"Here's what you have to do..." Cid smiled.

* * *

The next morning, Yuna smiled as her brother and Rikku joined her and Tidus for breakfast. They both sat down and yawned at the same time.

"Morning sleepyheads!" Tidus sang.

"It's not often we are up before Auron" Yuna smiled, earning a glare from her brother. Auron stabbed his pancakes with his fork and grumbled a response Yuna didn't quite catch. Rikku pushed her plate away and rested her head on the table to nap. Yuna laughed and picked up the day's newspaper.

"What has gotten into you two?" Tidus asked.

"Uh, Tidus?" Yuna said. The blonde looked up at Yuna and she put the paper on the table so they could both read it. Tidus almost spit out his juice after reading the title: "Exclusive Maester's Son and Al-Bhed Fiancé Elope!"

"What!" Tidus asked.

"Yeah we were eloping until four-thirty in the morning" Auron said grumpily.

"You guys are actually married now?" Yuna asked excitedly.

"No" Rikku answered rubbing her eyes. "But everyone is supposed to think we are"

"But why elope?" Tidus asked.

"With all the danger, Yuna getting kidnaped, those Guado twins, Braska thought it would be better if we eloped." Rikku said. Yuna and Tidus exchanged confused glances and Auron rolled his eyes. He was too tired for this.

"Everyone expected that Rikku and I would have had a huge ceremony, which is what had been planned. With everything that's been happening, our dads didn't want to take the chance that somebody would take the chance to get to one of us. So to get around it, Rikku and I were supposed to sneak out and get married." Auron explained.

"Right. Later Shelinda is going to interview Braska and he's going to pretend he didn't know anything about it. He's going to pretend to be bent out of shape for a while." Rikku added, waking up more. She reached across the table and took a muffin from Tidus.

"So that's good. No big ceremony to sit through" Tidus mused. He took the muffin back from Rikku and smiled when she barely noticed from her sleepiness.

"So where is Gippal this morning? I thought he's your bodyguard?" Yuna asked. She saw a flicker of interest in Auron's eyes and smiled at Rikku, waiting for her answer.

"I don't know Yuna" she yawned, resting on the table again and closing her eyes. Rikku was too tired to think of anything else but sleep. Maybe she could sneak off for a quick nap.

"No napping Rikku. Dad wants us in the conference room after breakfast" Tidus said reading his sister's mind. Rikku groaned and moved her chair closer to Auron. Auron was concentrating on not falling asleep in his pancakes when Rikku snuggled up to him. He jumped a little at the contact and tried not to look surprised.

"Auron," Rikku whined, "tell Tidus to leave me alone and let me sleep!". With Rikku's warm body curled up to his, Auron was finding it very hard not to fall asleep right then and there. The palace was a big place. It would be easy to carry Rikku off to a cozy place and they could sleep the day away. But Auron knew he did not have that kind of good luck.

"Let's go see our dads" Yuna suggested smiling at the 'married' couple across from her. Auron nodded and pushed Rikku off of him and stood up. He extended his hand to her and she took it, pulling herself up and walking with him. They passed quite a few people in on the way to the conference rooms and each one expressed their congratulations. Rikku and Auron thanked them politely and Tidus laughed behind them.

* * *

"Okay kiddies! We are going to fill you all in on what we have been up to lately!" Cid announced as the four friends sat around the table.

"We have sent our people to check out the leads Yuna gave us." Braska added, "A group went to Guadosalam, one to the Southern Ocean, and one to Omega Ruins."

"Did you find anything?" Auron asked.

"We found quite a bit out" Braska nodded. "Guadosalam is full of supplies and it appears that Omega Ruins may have recently been base for the Guado. It is quite possible that it was the headquarters during the last war. But there is nothing there now."

"What about the Southern Ocean?" Rikku asked.

"Well, that was a bit of a problem because it's a big ocean. Plus, the weather is horrible, there is no way to find an exact location of where Sin Guado was planning to take Yuna. It would take a crew on an airship a few weeks to make any progress at all." Cid said with a sparkle in his eye.

"What are you going to do?" Rikku and Tidus accused at the same time. They had seen that look one time too many. Cid opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by his children.

"It better not have anything to do with huge bombs!" Rikku warned.

"Yeah! Or underwater radar machina!" Tidus added.

"Now would I ever...underwater radar machina...hmmm?" Cid mused about the possibilities.

"No!" Rikku and Tidus shouted.

Braska, Yuna, and Auron watched the Al-Bhed family in amusement and curiosity. Braska and Yuna smiled at Cid arguing with his children and losing. Auron was watching Rikku. The young woman had a look of seriousness on her face that he wasn't used to. Auron saw a little maturity in the girl but this was the first time he had seen it take over her personality. As soon as the argument started, Cid had become the teenager and Rikku was the adult. She was obviously the voice of reason to her father and brother and Auron was a little surprised. He had pegged her as the immature on in the family.

"I am the boss in the family and you two can't stop me!" Cid barked sounding like a five year old.

"Whatever" Tidus and Rikku sighed, tired of fighting with their stubborn dad.

"I just want to sleep!" Rikku cried. Suddenly she was wrapped in a pair of warm comforting arms. She knew those arms. They belonged to Auron. She smiled up at him, grateful he cared and tolerated her whining. Over his shoulder she caught a glance of the guards with a few people. One was blonde and very tan and one had bright red-orange hair. Rikku shook her head in the realization that Auron had slipped back into pretend husband mode. If Rikku wasn't so tired she would have been a little sad that he didn't hug her just because, but today she was too exhausted to think. She snuggled her face into his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting his intoxicating scent lure her to sleep.

Auron couldn't help but smile at Rikku cuddling into his chest. She was just too cute. Wait, did he just think that? He watched the guards bring the two men over and tightened his arms protectively around her body. She sighed and he just wanted to fall asleep.

"Ah! Wakka! I'm glad you finally made it!" Braska said.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, everyone was in the training room waiting for Wakka. Braska pulled Auron and Rikku aside.

"Now you kids be careful. It just so happens that Wakka is pretty much the Besaid village elder. If you convince him that you two are in love, you have convinced Besaid. We need them to accept the Al-Bhed."

"Got it" they answered together. Braska eyed them for a second and nodded before leaving.

A few minutes later Wakka and another man came into the room. Auron, being the maester's son, stepped up to introduce himself.

"Hello Wakka. Thanks for coming today. I'm Auron, this is my wife Rikku. This is my sister Yuna and Rikku's brother Tidus" he introduced. Wakka smiled and nodded at each individual in turn. It was clear that he looked at the Al-Bheds a little skeptically.

"Nice to meet ya. I'm Wakka and this is my brother Chappu."

Everyone exchanged hellos and brothers from Besaid eyed the Al-Bhed siblings suspiciously. Wakka and Chappu only interacted with Al-Bheds in blitzball and the Al-Bhed team was not very friendly. Tidus felt the tension and decided to speak up.

"Hey I saw you guys play last week. You guys did awesome!" he cheered. Wakka looked at Tidus and smiled. "Thanks man" he replied.

"I have got to show you my moves one day" Tidus offered. "I can teach you how to make power shots that will blow you away!"

Auron touched Rikku's arm to get her attention. She jumped a little and turned to him. Once her sleepy eyes registered that it was Auron in front of her, she jumped into his embrace ans nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Auron caught her and looked surprised as she mumbled various things about sleep into his skin. Her warm body was starting to lure him to the sleepy side and he rested his head on hers.

Tidus was still talking about blitzball when he lost the attention of his audience. He followed Wakka's gaze and saw he was looking at Auron and Rikku. "Ah don't mind them. They're always all over each other. It makes me throw up a little sometimes."

"Tidus!" Yuna scolded, hitting him on the chest.

"Hey, who is that?" Chappu asked. Yuna turned her head to see Lulu walking across the room.

She turned back to answer and noticed the far off looks in both brother's eyes. This was not going to end up well.

"That's Lulu. One of our trainers." Yuna answered.

"Can you introduce us?" Wakka asked.

Oh boy.

* * *

Four hours later, Wakka felt like he had found a new family. He was quickly gaining respect for Auron. The man commanded a certain loyalty from his friends that Wakka envied. Rikku was charming and sweet and it was very obvious that the two were very much in love. If Auron could love an Al-Bhed, the least he could do was give them a chance.

Tidus and Wakka were the best of friends already. They both laughed and joked since they had the same sense of humor. He felt bad for being skeptical of the Al-Bhed siblings now that he knew them better. Yuna was very nice and very kind and Wakka loved her like a sister already. Then there was Lulu. She was the most beautiful woman Wakka had ever seen. She was stunning and mysterious. He wanted to get to know her better but there was one problem. She had been flirting with Chappu all night. Oh well, a little brotherly competition never killed anybody.

The group was sitting together enjoying dessert and talking about the next day. Everyone was going to travel to Luca where they could play some blitzball and Auron and Rikku were going to stop by Braska's and Cid's old school.

"So where do we sleep?" Chappu asked.

"Well, there is only one room left in our wing. If you don't want to share one of you will have to sleep in the far wing." Yuna answered.

Tidus did some quick mental calculations in his head. "She's right. Everybody here is talking up one room."

"Wait, even Auron and Rikku? They have separate rooms?" Wakka asked.

"We did have separate rooms" Auron answered smoothly. "Now Rikku's room is empty. Yuna forgot about that."

Yuna nodded, playing along. "That's right. I forget you two are married sometimes."

"Great, so one of us doesn't have to go that far!" Wakka smiled.

"Yeah we should hit the hay soon. Long day tomorrow" Tidus said. He looked over at Yuna, who was giggling and pointing at Rikku.

"Looks like some of us got a head start!"

Rikku was fast asleep leaning against Auron's arm. He smiled and pushed her up into a sitting position. She woke up and groaned.

"Sleep!" she cried out.

"We're going to bed now Rikku. Goodnight!" Yuna smiled at her friend. Everyone got up and Auron leaned down and scooped Rikku up so she didn't have to walk. She fell back asleep immediately and Auron carried her to his room. He kicked the door closed behind him and gave into his exhaustion finally. He deposited her on the bed and laid next to her falling asleep as quick as she did.

* * *

About an hour later, Rikku woke up a little disoriented. Where was she? She sat up and looked at the sleeping man beside her and realized that she must be in Auron's room. She took a look around and smiled. The room was very Auron. It was very simple and moderately decorated. The best parts were the huge grey marble fireplace and the large bed she was currently laying on. There was a small fire keeping the room warm and making her eyes heavy. She sat up realizing that she still had all her clothes on, even her shoes. Looking down at Auron, she saw that he still had on his coat and boots.

She yawned and left the bed. She took the ties out of her hair and set them on a table. She walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. Bingo! She found a silky black button up shirt right on the top. Tossing a glance to make sure he was still asleep, Rikku stripped down to her underwear and put on his shirt. She smiled when it came down to her knees and turned back to the bed, bringing her finger to her chin in thought.

Auron was sleeping on his stomach, booted feet hanging off the end of the bed and snoring lightly. Rikku walked to the bottom of the bed and started to work on getting the heavy shoes off. She tossed them to the floor and leaned over him to work on his coat. It was tricky work, but she was able to get it off. Auron turned over in his sleep and Rikku smiled.

"Good boy" she whispered softly. Next was the pants. Rikku grinned to herself hoping that Auron wore underwear as she worked on his belt. He mumbled something a few times and Rikku stopped working to look up at him. Each time she saw his face illuminated in the fire light, she smiled and blushed a little. He was really handsome and here she was stripping him in his sleep. She really hoped that he didn't wake up. After his belt was loosened, she held her breath and tugged on his pants.

Underwear! He was wearing underwear. Rikku let out her breath and tugged the pants until they came off. She was amazed that he hadn't woken up yet, but he was pretty tired. She smiled at her work. Auron was not only in his boxers, which were black silk to her delight, and his shirt. Now she could get some rest. She curled up next to him and pulled a heavy blanket over them. Sighing, she closed her eyes ready to not wake up for a long while.

* * *

A little while later, Auron woke up to a hand hitting him on the face. He shook his head and sat up. He looked over his shoulder to very pleasant sight. Rikku was asleep next to him. When he sat up, it pulled the blanket most of the way off her body and Auron couldn't help but stare. Rikku was sleeping on her back in his favorite black shirt. The shirt had moved up her body in her sleep, exposing her legs. She had one hand resting on her stomach and one on his pillow where his head had previously been. Her hair was down and flowing around her making her look angelic. All this, plus the fire bathing her body in a golden light was almost too much for his to handle.

And where the hell were his pants?

He looked on the floor and saw his discarded shoes and pants and smirked. Rikku had obviously taken it upon herself to make him more comfortable. But she forgot his shirt. He took it off and tossed it to the pile of clothes and yawned. Grabbing the blanket, he settled down next to Rikku, making sure he moved her hand to her stomach.

Five seconds later, it smacked him in the face.

* * *

Rikku woke up again, annoyed. She was exhausted and couldn't sleep well. She sighed and saw that the fire was starting to die and turned to look at Auron. Oh dear gods. He had no shirt on. Plus the blanket was draped over his waist making it look like he wasn't wearing anything at all.

"Oh my gosh" Rikku mouthed in awe as she sat up to admire his body. He was so damn hot. His chest was very broad and very muscular and toned. His stomach wasn't without a six pack. Rikku realized how big Auron was. He was easily twice her size. Rikku was drooling over his body when he suddenly rolled over and tossed an arm over her side. Rikku froze and looked up to see him staring sleepily back at her.

"Sleep Rikku" he whispered huskily.

"I'm trying" she whispered back. _But your distracting me! _

Auron sighed and pulled her up against him and held her in place. She put her hand on his waist and tried to calm down but it was hard when his hot breath was steadily brushing over her face and neck.

Being so close to Rikku, Auron could feel her breath quicken and her heart rate speed up. He wondered if he was the cause or if she was uncomfortable. Experimentally, Auron brushed his lips across her eyebrow and she gripped at his waist and gasped. Auron felt excitement tighten his lower abdomen as he pulled back to look at her.

Rikku was looking into his eyes with a nervous expression. He was so close she could see the mix of curiousness and lust in his eyes. He brought his hand up to rest on her neck and his thumb pressed to her lips. Rikku breathed in as he ran his thumb over her lips and pulled her face closer at the same time. She felt like she was going to explode if he didn't move soon. As soon as his thumb finished the trek across her lips it was replaced by his lips. Rikku gasped as he kissed her lightly and pulled back. She lifted her face and rubbed his nose with hers and he nuzzled her back. Rikku brushed her lips over his nose and cheek before kissing his jaw line. She made her way to his lips and hovered just in front of them. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek and ran his lips over her once before fully kissing her.

They both moaned at the contact as they fought for dominance in the kiss. Rikku willingly gave in and let Auron push her back into the pillow. Rikku was in heaven. Under her was the soft warm mattress inviting her to fall into sleep. Above her was Auron, leaning over her on his elbow so she wasn't crushed by his weight and kissing her like he would never see her again. He was really warm and had a sleepy fuzziness to him that made Rikku tingly on the inside. Everything was so hazy and warm and perfect.

Auron felt Rikku's tongue enter his mouth and he gave her access. As soon as his lips were parted she bit down lightly on his bottom lip an he groaned, pressing his body against hers. She sighed and pressed back, wanting to feel more of him. And boy did she feel more of him. His arousal was pressed into her tummy and it made her more aware of her desire.

"Auron" she moaned as he left her lips to kiss her neck. As soon as he shifted, the blanket fell and a cold rush of air broke the thick lust in the air. Rikku was suddenly very aware of where this was going.

"Auron!" She said in a completely different tone.

Her voice broke his actions and he lifted off of her and looked down at her. She was breathing heavily under him, her cheeks flushed, looking at him with bright eyes. He watched her chest heaving under his shirt and really, really wanted to rip it off of her.

"What are we doing?" she asked. He sat up and she leaned up, her legs bent up at the knee.

"I don't know" he answered. He had moved his hand to her knee cap and was rubbing soothing circles on it. He moved his hand to rub her thigh and then under her knee cap to the sensitive area where her leg bent. He started pressing into the flesh, massaging the artery that ran down her leg, as he tried to think of what to say.

"Auron" she moaned, falling back onto the bed and panting. He looked at her and then realized that his actions were turning her on. Instead of stopping like he should, he pressed harder into her leg and attached his lips to her neck once again. Rikku moaned louder, not believing that his simple touch was having this effect on her. He bit down gently on her neck and she gripped onto his hair and tugged softly.

Auron could not get enough of her. He never wanted someone so much in his life. Her skin, her moans, her caresses were too much for him and he moved his hand to his shirt that she was wearing. He knew that if he gave in to his desire to rip the garment off of her, there was no turning back. She groaned at the loss of contact on her leg and opened her eyes to see Auron looking at her as if her was debating something.

* * *

A/N: So...does he? Is it too soon? I don't know. You tell me. Heehee so there might be some Chappu/Wakka tension soon. Poor Lulu. 


	10. A Restless Night

A/N: I got to tell you guys...that last chapter was so fun to write...I have been neglecting Aurikku fluff goodness for far too long, don't you think? Here is some more!

I know my shout-outs have been non existent lately, but I want to thank everyone that's been reading so far and next chapter will have a well deserved shout out to everyone!

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything let alone the rights to Final Fantasy...if I did I would spend the majority of my day writing an Aurikku game...rated M for mature scenes...hehehe 

**Warning!: Lemon ahead! Chapter rated M**

**A Restless Night**

Wakka scowled as he looked to the door of his room. On the other side was Chappu and Lulu flirting in the hall. He knew he shouldn't have went to sleep so soon. Now his brother was getting all the glory. He wanted to talk to Lulu more than anything.

Five minutes later, he heard a door shut and took a chance. Opening his door he hoped to find the beautiful mage alone in the hall.

But Wakka did not have that kind of luck. Chappu was out in the hall staring at a door that Wakka assumed was Lulu's.

"Whatcha doing brudda?" Wakka asked.

Chappu turned and looked at Wakka with a dreamy expression. "I really like her Wakka. I think she likes me too!"

Ah crap. Wakka didn't know what to say. He wanted his brother to be happy but did it have to be with her? But he was the older brother and he had to look out for Chappu. "I'm sure she does man. Go get some sleep."

Wakka made sure Chappu was in his room before letting his head fall back in defeat.

* * *

Tidus paced his room a few times. He knew that Yuna was at another training session with Issaru and it drove him crazy. According to the summoner, he worked best at night. Tidus knew that was bullshit. Issaru knew what he was up to and Tidus was worried about Yuna. 

Not being able to take it any longer, Tidus left his room in search of his crush.

* * *

"This is Cid you old bastard, over!" 

Braska smiled at the voice coming out of the commsphere. "Okay Cid, what's going on?"

Cid had waited until his kids were good and distracted before taking his fleet to the Southern Ocean. It was sneaky but nessecary to avoid his kids.

"Well, my airship is scouting the east and Buddy has got the west. Nothing much yet." came Cid's voice.

"Ok. Keep me posted.

* * *

Gippal found himself walking the halls that night. He was plotting ways to spend more time with Rikku. With her husband around all the time, it was going to be hard. He couldn't believe that Rikku was in love with that ape. Gippal despised Auron the moment he met him. All he needed was some time to win Rikku over, but how?

* * *

Auron wasn't sure when he lost the ability to think but he was sure it had something to do with kissing the Al-Bhed woman under him. He debated ripping her shirt off for a whole two seconds before he acted. He was surprised to see that she was still wearing her bra but it didn't slow him down any. There was too much new skin to kiss to slow down now. 

Rikku gasped as his large hands cupped her breasts through the fabric of her bra. She whimpered as he trailed hot, wet kisses down her chest and over the tops of her breasts. She knew that Auron was a lost cause now so she was going to have to be the one to say something. Instead of speaking, she lifted her hips to make contact with his and rotated them slowly_. No! Bad Rikku! Focus!_

Auron slammed his hips onto hers, pushing her against the bed and drawing a long moan form her lips. _Oh God Rikku FOCUS!_

"Auron" she said gasping for air and pushing on his chest. The unexpected force sent Auron rolling onto his back. He pulled Rikku on top of him and continued to massage her breasts. That was not how Rikku meant for the shove to end. She was trying really hard to talk to him, but ended up rubbing her hips back and forth over his erection and holding onto his hands that were covering her breasts. _Damn it Rikku! You are useless!_

Auron knew that Rikku was trying to say something but could not bring himself to calm down. His body was on fire for her and she was right there. He hadn't realized how attracted he was to her until now. He must have been in denial. Knowing he should stop to let her speak, he still ran hand down her body and slipped his hand under her underwear.

"Auron!" she screamed, forgetting her reservations. He immediately sat up, holding her to his chest and she slid forward further onto his hand.

It was too much. Too far. Rikku needed to stop this. Auron didn't like her like that way. He was just attracted to her and turned on. Rikku was right there with him, but she couldn't face him day after day if this happened. Her feelings for him were mixed but she knew that given time they could be love. Mostly, she was afraid that he would use her like Keyakku did.

"Auron" she whimpered, scooting back so she was sitting on his legs. Auron groaned at the loss of her warm body and leaned forward to kiss her.

"Rikku, please" he kissed her softly, "I want you so much"

Rikku knew that much. How was she going to say this? How could she make him understand what she went through with her former friend?

"Auron" she started as he moved to her neck, "I need to know that you like me and this is going to be okay afterwards."

If Auron had been thinking with his real head instead of the one in his pants, he would have caught the unsure, scared tone in her voice. He would have known that something was hidden below her peppy surface and if he asked, she would have told him everything. Instead, he said something that he was going to regret every time he though back on it.

"Rikku, don't tell me your having second thoughts now!" He was turned on to the point that it was painful and he wasn't ready to let her go. He immediately felt her stiffen and guilt rushed over him. Where had that come from? He never said things like that! She had just put him in such a state of lust he couldn't think straight.

Rikku scrambled off of him feeling embarrassed and stupid. She never meant for this to go as far as it did but she wanted him so much. She wanted his warmth and protection and as stupid as it was, she wanted his love. She wanted him to be the person he was when he was pretending to be her husband and she cursed herself for being so stupid.

"I'm going to go to my room" she whispered, grabbing her clothes and throwing them on in record time.

"Rikku-" he started, but the door already closed.

* * *

Wakka was about to go into his room when he heard a door click open. He looked up to see Lulu exiting her room. 

"Hey Wakka" she smiled, hoping he couldn't see her blushing in the dark.

"Lulu!" he said surprised, "I mean hello"

They smiled sheepishly at each other for a moment. Lulu really thought he was so cute. The first time she saw him in Luca, she couldn't forget him. Now she felt bad because his little brother had obviously developed a crush on her and she didn't know what to do.

"I was going to get some ice cream. Want to come?" She smiled.

* * *

Tidus ran into Yuna halfway to the training room. "Tidus! What are you doing up?" she asked, surprised. 

"Uh..." he tried to think of an excuse.

Yuna smiled at his flushed cheeks. She was tired of playing these games with him and decided to make a move. "Did you come to find me because you were worried?"

"Yeah" he admitted, putting a hand to the back of his neck.

She smiled, stepping closer. "And did you come to find me because you were jealous?" she smirked.

"What! No!" he said, not meeting her gaze.

"Really?" she said in fake innocence. "That's too bad because I thought it would have been cute and I might have given you a kiss for a reward."

Tidus stared at her for a second before lunging at her to kiss her. Yuna would have fallen over if he had not wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her still. She kissed him back with all the force she could gather. A few moments later, they broke apart.

"Wow" Yuna breathed.

* * *

Braska was worried. Cid and Buddy had both spotted the Guado compound and were going in for a better look against his wishes. Cid, being Cid, took it upon himself to send his ship down. Now Braska only had communication with Buddy. 

"No sign of anything going on down there, Maester. Cid says hi." Buddy reported.

Since Cid and Buddy were close, the line off communication remained open and Buddy reported back to Braska.

"They are at the water level now. Moving to the compound...oh cred! Air missles!" Buddy shouted.

Braska felt a chill run through him and looked around at his commsphere team. "Get a clear feed!" he ordered. He wanted to hear what was happening. Buddy was yelling a string of Al-Bhed curses and cutting out.

"We're hit! Abandon ship!" Buddy hollered. The room stilled at the scream and Braska waited for more. A few seconds later, Cid's voice roared through the sphere.

"My team in back in the air. Those bastards hit Buddy's airship! There are all down in the water. We're going down again! I'll resume communication when we're in the air!"

* * *

Gippal still had nothing. Rikku wasn't the problem. His friend Keyakku told him how easy she was and he was determined to make her his. It was her brother and husband he had to worry about. Keyakku warned him that Tidus was a very good fighter and would protect his sister at all costs. He hadn't known Auron long, but knew to watch out for him. 

Gippal walked further down the hall to his room and suddenly a door flew open a few feet in front of him. As luck would have it, Rikku came running out of the room looking upset.

_Excellent! I can work with this!_ he thought.

"Rikku! What happened? Are you alright?" he asked in mock concern. She looked up at him and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine Gippal." she said shivering. The palace was very cold with out Auron wrapped around her.

"Auron giving you trouble?" he asked. "Trying to force you into things? Like Keyakku?"

Rikku's head snapped up and Gippal smiled. He knew what buttons to push and this one was right on the money. "Come here sweetie" he cooed.

Rikku stayed still while Gippal wrapped her in a hug. She almost cried in disappointment. His embrace was foreign and not Auron. She missed his comfort and Gippal was not him. She started to pull away but heard a very deep voice behind her.

"Get your hands off of my wife!" Auron roared, staring Gippal down. Gippal let go of Rikku and stepped back in fear of his safety.

Rikku spun around and her breath caught at sight of Auron in his underwear. He had obviously come out of his room to find her and didn't expect to run into anyone this late at night. She waited for him to make a move.

She didn't have to wait long. Auron walked over and grabbed her hand, pulling her into his room and slamming the door, not giving Gippal a second glance. Rikku was glad. Even though she was uncomfortable with Auron right now, she'd take him over Gippal any day. They weren't two feet into the room when Auron hugged her to him. She breathed his scent in and out and relaxed even though she didn't like him that much right now.

"Rikku, I'm so sorry" he whispered against her ear. "I'm an idiot, but please don't hate me"

Rikku melted against her will. He sounded like a hurt little boy. She didn't know what to say to him. He pulled her tighter and looked at her face. He smiled at her tightly closed eyes.

"Open your eyes" he whispered. She opened one eye slowly, then the other and looked up at him. He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "Stay here with me please"

Rikku nodded and Auron let her go to retrieve the black shirt from the floor. He walked back over to her and quickly took the clothes she had thrown on off. Before she could blink, the black shirt was on her and Auron was carrying her to the bed. He placed her on the mattress and climbed in beside her. Rikku cursed herself for falling into his warm arms again, but it couldn't be helped.

"I didn't mean for it to come out like that Rikku, I honestly didn't" he told her.

"I know Auron" Rikku sighed, rubbing his arm. "I'm just so confused"

"Tell me" he answered softly, rubbing his nose along her cheek. She sighed and turned in his arms so she was facing him. She looked up into his beautiful eyes and sighed. Here goes nothing.

"I didn't think you liked me that much to tell you the truth" she admitted. She felt Auron sigh and hold her tighter.

"Rikku, I find it incredibly easy to pretend to love you. Every time I pretend to kiss you, I really kiss you. I wish that it is real" he admitted, hoping he didn't scare her.

"Really?" she smiled glad that he said that. "I feel the same Auron"

He smiled and kissed her very relieved that they got that out in the open. The more he kissed her, the more his body reacted to her and he pulled back after a few moments. Rikku had a sad look in her eye and this time, Auron didn't miss it.

"What is it Rikku?" he asked. She looked up at him and saw concern in his eyes. "Is this about Keyakku?"

They way Rikku tensed told Auron that this was a sensitive issue. "You heard Gippal?" she asked. Auron nodded and waited for her to continue.

"He was a friend of mine back home. I liked him and I though he liked me. He and I were...intimate and I found out that he didn't like me after all" she admitted. Auron grew angry at her word and wanted to kill this man he never met. "Tidus threatened him but it still hurt."

Auron kissed her check lightly. "That's why you wanted to stop" he nodded.

"I didn't want to stop Auron" she said. Auron looked at her and lifted an eyebrow.

"But-" he started confused.

"I'm not broken Auron. Keyakku didn't mess me up for life or anything. I fell for him and he used me. It hurt, but it happens. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't using me" she said softly.

"God Rikku I am so foolish. I shouldn't have said what I did, I was just not thinking. Of course I like you. You're all I can think about all day. I'm not here with you now just because I have nothing better to do!" he answered.

"That's all I needed to hear" she smiled, kissing him. She was falling hard for this man.

Auron smiled and kissed her back glad they talked. He wasn't planning on letting Rikku go for a long time, if ever. The little Al-Bhed accomplished what hundreds of bachelorettes could not. She won Auron's heart. Rikku shivered and cast a glance at the dying fire. She pulled back form Auron and concentrated on the fire place.

"Hey, look what Lulu taught me. Fire!" She waved her arm at the logs and a small fire lit the room. Auron smirked and kissed her neck. "Showoff"

"Speaking of Lulu, what was going on between her and Wakka and Chappu today?" Rikku asked.

"I have no idea" Auron answered from her neck, "I was busy keeping you awake to pay attention."

Rikku suddenly remembered how exhausted she was and curled into Auron. He was still mostly naked and she ran her hands everywhere she could. Auron held still while she ran her hands over his stomach and around to his butt. He groaned when she squeezed and rolled over onto her.

"You are asking for trouble Rikku" he growled.

"Maybe I want trouble Auron" she answered bitting at his ear.

"Rikku, I am not going to hurt you again" he told her firmly. She smiled and kissed him sweetly.

"I know that you feel the same Auron. I've never felt anything like this ever and I don't want to deny it anymore" she answered.

Auron could not argue with that logic. "Are you sure you want to do this with me?"

"How could I not?" she smiled as he looked away, his face flushed. It gave her the opportunity to run her lips along his neck and she felt him harden. Auron ripped the shirt off of her again.

"Now where were we?" he asked lifting her slightly to release the clasp on her bra. As soon as the material fell away, he placed his mouth over one of her nipples and a hand on the other. Rikku sighed and smiled, glad she was back in his arms and never wanting to leave again. She felt like she was putting her heart out on her sleeve again, but his time she was glad it was for Auron. She panted and moaned beneath him while he switched his attention between her breasts. Her hands tugged on his hard and ran along his back as he drove her crazy.

Auron loved the way her skin tasted. Rikku was his whether she knew it or not yet. He moved his kisses down her stomach and put on hand behind her knee, remembering her earlier reaction. Sure enough, Rikku jumped at his touch and launched herself at him, kissing him hard. Auron groaned into her mouth and tugged at her underwear, throwing them to the floor. She held him tighter and pressed herself against him as much as she could. Taking advantage of his leverage, she pulled on his arms until he fell onto her and then rolled them both over.

Rikku sat up on his boxer clad erection and grinded her hips back and forth. He moaned her name and she leaned forward to kiss him deeply. Suddenly she pulled back and climbed down his body to the foot of the bed. Once she was standing, she pulled his boxers off his legs and tossed them to the floor. Seeing him fully naked, Rikku stared. He looked like a Greek god...only better and well...much bigger.

Auron was doing the same thing. Rikku was standing at the end of th bed and he couldn't take it anymore. He sat up and reached for her pulling her to him and onto his lap. He kissed her and massaged her breast and she pressed herself closer to him, not feeling enough of him. Auron reached a hand to her butt and guided her forward.

They both moaned at finally joining together after so much tension between them. Rikku immediately started to shudder around him and Auron reached a hand to where they were joined to help her along. Minutes later, she was panting in his embrace after her release and was so tired. Auron smiled and fell back onto the bed, rolling her under him. She wrapped her legs around him and kissed his chest as he thrust into her again and again. Rikku could barely breath. What Auron was doing to her, combined with the thought of what Auron was doing to her made her dizzy and she couldn't think. Each stroke inside of her took her higher an higher until she though she couldn't think she could stand anymore.

Auron wasn't doing much better. Rikku had him in a trace and all he could focus on was her. Her scent, her sighs, her moans drove him crazy. He felt her inner muscles tighten around him for the third of fourth time and he climaxed with her, falling into her arms.

Rikku held him to her and loved the way her body fit hers. Auron rolled to the side, taking her with him and cradling her to his chest and he had the exact same thought.

"Auron?" she whispered, her voice a little horse from all her cries.

"Yeah?" he asked still out of breath.

"We need to sleep now or we might die" she said simply.

"I know. Goodnight" he said, pulling her close and they were both asleep in seconds.

* * *

"We lost all contact Maester" one of the technicians said to Braska. 

"Damn it!" he cursed, throwing a set of headphones into the nearby wall.

* * *

A/N: Holy crap...that was lemony...hehehe. you know you loved it. So before you say it, yes i know that Auron is out OOC. And so is Rikku for that matter. I hope you liked it! it's 3am now and I've been working on it since yesteray. Let me know! 

So next chapter! More from Cid...or not...dun dun dun...will chappu come between wakka and lulu? what happened with yuna and tidus..and depending on your reactions...more aurrikku lemony goodness...

Hey **losttoxichope**! Did you see your line in there? heehehe i put that in for you!


	11. When Did That Happen?

A/N: Dear lord...that update took long enough. Well, I am very sorry to say that this is going to be the last chapter for this story as of right now. One day, i may continue, but not now. This chapter wraps up what happened at the end of last chapter. It's short, and quick, but adds closure. Truthfully I have one too many projects on my hands right now and it's time to end a few. Ay, read my note at the end for the good news!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy...i'm just not that awesome.

* * *

**When Did That Happen?**

Wakka couldn't remember being happier. He was sitting in the kitchen across from Lulu, who had invited him to come get ice cream. They were both eating their cones peacefully. Wakka noticed that Lulu was shifting in her chair and looking a little nervous. He knew what was coming. She was going to say something about Chappu he just knew it.

"So I really like you Wakka" Lulu said.

Wakka blinked and his ice cream almost fell off of the cone.

Lulu looked away after he didn't say anything for a while. "I just thought it was best to get that out there. You know, avoid any awkward feelings, or confusion, so yeah." It sounded like a good idea in her head, but she should have just stayed quiet.

"You like me?" Wakka said incredulously. He saved his cone from its inevitable fall to the floor and looked up at her. "Really?"

Lulu laughed at his accusing tone. He really didn't believe her. "Yeah, I've had a crush on you since that game you played two years ago in Luca."

Lulu was wondering if she should have said that when Wakka threw his ice cream aside and kissed her deeply.

* * *

Yuna and Tidus were still making out in the hall when they were interrupted by Issaru. The summoner smirked at the pair and knew he never had a fighting chance.

"Ahem" he interrupted.

Tidus and Yuna broke apart and looked at him. Yuna in embarrassment and Tidus in triumph.

"Braska needs you both. Rikku and Auron too if you see them." Issaru said.

* * *

Rikku woke up wrapped up in Auron's arms. She smiled widely and rolled over to face the sleeping man. In some crazy way, by the hand of a fake marriage, she had fallen in love. Auron shifted slightly and rolled onto her more. Rikku giggled a little and started to nibble on his earlobe. Auron woke up abruptly and looked down to see a smiling Rikku under him. He smiled right back and kissed her. They were lost in the kiss when they heard a knock at the door.

Auron groaned and lifted himself up, trailing kisses down her torso as he left the bed. Rikku giggled at him and kicked his tight butt when he stood up, almost causing him to fall over as he was putting on his pants.

"You just wait until I get back..." he warned her as he walked to the door. He opened it to see the annoyingly bright faces of his sister and Tidus.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Braska needs us. Rikku in there?" Tidus asked, trying to see over the larger man's shoulder. Auron pushed him back down so he wouldn't see Rikku in the bed.

"We'll be right there"

* * *

The four walked into the conference room to see a very grim looking Braska.

"What happened Father?" Yuna asked. Everyone gathered around the table and waited for the news.

"You're father is an idiot!" Braska announced pointing at Rikku and Tidus. "He took a couple of airships to the Southern Ocean to look for the base."

"WHAT!" Rikku screeched. "What an idiot!"

"That's what I said" Braska nodded. "To top it off, he went down to get a look at the base and we lost communication."

Rikku and Tidus felt their blood run cold. "What happened?" Tidus asked.

"I took those bastards down!" Cid yelled from the commsphere. "Turns out I crashed right into the main room and there the twins of terror were looking at me like chocobo caught in the headlights!"

"What?" the four friends yelled in disbelief. Cid laughed and started his story over.

Braska leaned over and turned the sphere down rolling his eyes. "The point is Cid is a lucky idiot. But he does have Seymour and Sin Guado in custody and they will go to the holding cells when Cid returns. You all get some sleep and I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Will Cid be back by then?" Auron asked. Braska nodded as they left the room.

In the hall, Rikku was fuming. "He told us he wasn't going to go alone! He could be dead right now!"

Auron picked Rikku up in his arms and lifted her so their faces were level. "There is no use dwelling on the past Rikku. Your father did do something foolish, but he's okay now. That's what is important." Rikku sighed and rubbed her nose across Auron's cheek. He smiled and kissed her before setting her back on the ground.

Tidus and Yuna stared. "When did that happen?" they both asked.

Rikku and Auron turned their attention to the other pair and noticed that they were holding hands. "When did _that_ happen?" they asked.

* * *

The next morning, Cid was back and very proud of himself. "Then I looked at them and they looked at me and I knew, it was gonna be them or me!"

He was telling his tale for the third time to Barthello and Issaru. Rikku, Yuna, Tidus, Auron, and Braska were at the table waiting for him to finish. A few seconds later Lulu and Wakka came in the room, arm in arm.

"When did that happen?" Rikku and Tidus asked. Cid stopped his story to see what his kids were talking about and Braska took the opportunity to jump in the conversation.

"Well, with the Guado leaders in our custody, our major problem is solved. But we have a long way to go if we want to see unity in Spira." he said.

"Well, I suppose Rikku and Auorn will have to decide if they want to start touring Spira now that it's safer.

"That sounds like fun" Auron said leaning over and kissing Rikku sweetly.

"Yeah, a vacation with you!" she replied, kissing him back.

"When did that happen!" Braska and Cid yelled.

* * *

Like I said, short closure...a feel a weight lifted already. Okay the good news. First, a sequel for "Because of You" is in the works, yippee!. Second, I have an awesome Aurikku fluffy surprise for you all very soon! Keep an eye out for it! 


End file.
